Digital Harmony
by Caroline L'Amoure
Summary: Carol has the gift of the siren. Her songs entrance people to do her will, good or bad- but when her imminent doom is revealed, Trevor, an agent from a paranormal protection agency has to find how to save her from a horrible death. Will she be saved?
1. Chapter 1

-1**Alright- this story was inspired by Marjorie M. Liu's Eye of Heaven. Hope you enjoy it :D**

The car rolled down the highway casually, passive as the other sports cars passed it by easily. Such was the life of an old car, always passed, always uncaring. The owner of the car sat inside, listening to the sounds of the radio with a sense of sadness about her. Carol had wanted to be a professional singer since she was in middle school, a young girl just starting choir, Just getting used to using her magnificent voice, but a gift had turned into a curse. She shut the radio off and let out a deep sigh, not daring to sing along to the words of the music. She hummed slightly, a strange energy forming around her as the tune came from her mouth. She looked to the car beside her, the driver suddenly sitting up straight, the car veering slightly as he stared blankly ahead.  
She stopped her humming, the driver relaxing again with a confused expression, shaking his head and speeding the car further ahead to act as if nothing had happened. Carol bit her lip nervously, knowing she shouldn't have done that. Ever since high school, every time she tried to sing, her voice made others fall into a sort of trance, not able to do anything unless she changed the tune of the song, or stopped singing altogether. She let out a long shaky sigh and focused on the road again, rounding a corner of the highway and turning into an exit to head home. At least there she could sing with no interruptions- no danger. She just wished she could finally be able to sing again...

"Aye sir, her name is Caroline- Carol for short. She excelled at singing until her highschool senior year, when she dropped out of the class after an assembly solo. Rumor has it that the techie in charge of the microphones collapsed and fell into an open wire- he was badly electrocuted, pronounced dead at the hospital upon arrival."  
"Tragic. Enough to make her never sing again, I wager." A elderly man at a large desk folded his hands grimly. He knew well of these circumstances, the tragic happenings of the children of this generation, born with abilities they saw as a curse, turning them into freaks in their own minds. A pity. "What is she doing now?"  
"Nothing sir, just working a job as a waitress at Applebee's. God, she must be depserate." She woman in a black suit with a small skirt frowned at the report in front of her, and looked up at her boss. "Should I send a message for a meeting, sir?"  
"No, thank you. We should wait until she comes to us. Just make it known that we exist to her. She will come to us. That will be enough, Jackie."  
The seceretary, Jackie, smiled and reached out a hand, her pen floating from the desk into her open palm. The man nodded in satisfaction as Jackie walked out of the room. She had been his first student- a young girl with remarkable abilities of telekinesis. She saw it as a burden though, hiding it from all others until he had found her.  
This was a world based on technology and convenience- not magic and responsibility. Those were days long past. he leaned back against his chair, finally letting his spell drop- his face molding back into its original shape of a handsome young man with white hair, a long angular face and sharply pointed ears. There were plenty of his kind still around- hiding in plain sight. The elven folk were not the legend that the humans thought they were. Instead, they were the ones that kept order to society.  
The strange happenings that went on in the news were triggers for a much deeper event- that which the world was soon going to realize. His green eyes turned to the list of students on his wall. He stood and walked over, wondering which would be best suited for this particular occassion. He would say... Trevor. A very gifted child indead- especially in this world. In his childhood, such a power would have been of no use, except perhaps medically. But now...  
Things had surely changed. Over the thousand years of his existance he had seen wars, famine, revolutions and discoveries. The human race was growing at a rapid rate- hurdling toward its final decision. Would it turn for the well being of all, or for the well being of itself? That was what this battle would decide. An invisible battle of greed and generocity. Unfortunately, it was painfully obvious which side was winning. He walked back over to his desk and pushed the small button that put on his speaker phone. "On second thought, Jackie- send in Trevor. Subtle though- don't make it obvious." he smiled.  
"Yes sir." Jackie said over the speaker, though by the tone of her voice she was smiling. He rolled his eyes. The woman was far too intelligent. She might have already done what he was thinking- he would have to remind her to stop reading minds. He walked back over to his desk, took on his form of an elderly man again and started shuffling papers.

**Short chapter, I know. The next ones will be longer, I promise!**


	2. Chapter 2

-1**There- this chapter will be much longer due to the extreme shortness of the last one- sorry about that!**

**Please review after you read!**

"Trevor- I have a mission for you." A man, far too slender to be human said, his ear held slightly away from the receiver of his cell phone due to its sensitivity. Orsanos, the leader of a paranormal detection and protection agency was getting annoyed with one of his most recent recruits.  
"Alright- where did you need me to go?" the voice answered, a young male voice, filled with far too much arrogance for his own good. Then again, he was virtually untouchable in this modern world.  
"I've found a woman that needs our attention immediately. Will you go to her and fetch her please?"  
"Sure. Where is she?"

"Detroit, Mi-"  
"Oh no FUCKING way man- you've GOT to be kidding. If I go there I'll fucking explode! It's so damn loud there!"  
That kid and his mouth. Orsanos shook his head in dismay. He would learn, and hopefully sooner rather than later. He knew Trevor did not mean loud as in sound, but his own version of noise…  
"If you do not go and fetch her by the end of this month, she will die in the most horrible way a woman can be killed. Fergi has foreseen it in her photograph." Orsanos argued, his voice low in warning. Fergi, short for Ferdinelle, was a special type of psychic- able to tell how a person would die from a mere picture of them, seeing the act as if they were a living corpse. A gruesome gift indeed, but useful.  
"Oh yeah? Like how? Drowned? Stabbed?"  
"Kidnapped, raped, beaten and shot through the mouth with a pistol. The photograph showed her brains splattered on the sidewalk nearly ten yards from where she was standing."

A long silence followed, ending with a sigh.  
"Shit that's bad. Alright, send me her specs and where she currently resides. And what's her power?"

"Power is such a meaningless word with these situations, Trevor. They are gifts, not superpowers. Her gift is that of singing- she can control one's mind with her voice, much like a siren."  
"Alright, I'll watch out for that. Hopefully she won't hypnotize me to jump off a cliff." Trevor said, chucking slightly.  
"I doubt it very much. A boy in her high school died from her voice- she's vowed never to sing again."  
"… This girl's got serious troubles. Do we have any idea on who's supposed to kill her?"  
"That's what I was hoping you would find out. And stop him, before things get out of hand." Orsanos left it on that note and hung up the phone. That child was going to get himself killed with his attitude. Hopefully a mission would soothe him.

He now turned to his most pressing matter at hand. Jackie had been acting very strange as of late, and was suddenly in his office for a majority of the time, instead of at her desk. He enjoyed the company, but the way she was glancing at him made him uneasy. He was not one to frolic with mortals for a virtual one night stand, though to them it was more like fifty years. He had far too much honor for something like that to happen.  
"Jackie, would you please fax Carol's stats to Trevor?" He asked, running a hand through his white hair nervously.

"Yes sir." Jackie smiled to him and took a file of papers, feeding them into the fax machine. She glanced over to Orsanos and marveled his elven form before he set the illusion of his elderly self about him, and glanced at her uneasily before looking over his papers with a grim frown.

Carol smiled at the customer and placed their bill on the table with a bright smile. "Have a good day." She said happily, and turned back around to make her rounds of the other tables, asking whether their food was to their satisfaction, if they needed refills on drinks, or if someone needed to order. It was near closing time, her favorite time of the day. She knew the people that came by this time of day personally, since she often sat down to talk with them about their troubles. That's what happens when you're a waitress for a late night restaurant- get ready to be a psychologist. She looked over at the people that had stopped by tonight, noticing the old woman sitting at a table and sipping her coffee as usual. She was one of the few who refused to talk about her problems, but her eyes were obviously haunted. She looked across the isle and saw another person there, this time a new one. He looked to be about her age, with blond hair spiked in gel on his head. He looked as if he were in horrible pain, his eyes filled with it, though otherwise he showed no other signs of expressing it.  
"Can I get you something to drink?" She said, walking over to him with a small notepad. She had a horrible memory, so she always had to write everything down.

"Yeah. I'll have a coke, please." The man smiled, and looked up at her with his ice blue eyes, which flashed when he saw her. He looked back down casually, and kept reading the menu.  
Carol gulped nervously, having not seen someone this cute in a long time. Especially not coming through this particular restaurant. She walked off to go get him his drink.

Trevor looked up as the girl left and groaned, holding his head in pain. Everything around him was screaming with its energy, the lights above him seeming to burn into his brain. Shit, it was horrible being in a city with these powers. He looked back up as the girl walked over again with a tall glass of cola in her hand and set it down on the table, looking at him in concern.  
"Are you alright?" She asked, looking at his pained expression.  
"Yeah." he said, but he sounded much too strained. She sat down on the other side of the table from him, in a gesture that she was going to stay until she was sure he was alright. She didn't care if she got yelled at for being too nosy, this guy was in serious pain.

"I'm okay, really." He said, shaking his head to regain control of his mental barriers. Carol looked at him for a minute before standing up and took the notebook back out of her pocket. "Are you ready to order then?" She asked quietly. He obviously didn't want to talk.   
"Yeah… I'll just have the turkey and cheese sandwich. Say- is your name Caroline by any chance?"  
Carol stared at him, her eyes wide. She looked down at her nametag, which said 'carol'. How would he have known her real name?  
"Yes…" She said cautiously.

Alright Carol, after I get my sandwich I'd like to talk if that's alright with you." Trevor said, not really knowing how to do this sort of thing. He guessed that this would be good enough.

"Sure…" Carol said nervously. She hoped he wasn't one of those creepy stalker guys that targeted girls in restaurants. She quickly walked back toward the kitchen and put the paper on the revolving wheel for the cook, who looked at her in concern with a ladle in his hand, making soup.  
"Something wrong Carol?" He raised an eyebrow as she breathed much to quickly to be normal.  
"There's a guy out there who knew my real name and wants to talk with me. I don't know if I should." She whispered, and the large man walked over to her.   
"You want me to escort him out the door?" The big strong man smirked happily. Carol smiled as well, knowing Cook would do anything to be able to 'escort' someone out the door.  
"No, I'm just paranoid. I'll yell if something happens though." She said, and straightened her skirt.  
"Alrighty little bird, I'll be listening with my butcher knife." The Cook grinned and handed her a plate with the turkey sandwich and fries on it. Carol smiled up to him and walked out the door to the main part of the restaurant and set the sandwich down in front of the man, sitting down across the table from him nervously. He took a bite out of his sandwich and looked at her thoughtfully.  
"I probably freaked you out a little. Sorry." Trevor said, looking as her worried expression melt.  
"Kind of." She said softly, looking down, amused with herself that she had jumped to conclusions so quickly.  
"Don't worry, I'm not going to attack you or something. I'm from a detective agency. I just wanted to ask you a few questions."  
Carol's eyes widened, and she nodded slightly. Was she in trouble?  
"Do you have anyone who's been following you lately?"

"Other than you?" Carol smirked.  
Oho, so she did have a sassy side. Trevor said, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, other than me."  
"No, no one. I'm usually on my own. I tend to be paranoid, so I probably would have seen something like that."

Trevor nodded grimly. "Do you know of anyone who would qualify to do something like that? Ex-boyfriends, enemies? Old friendships gone wrong?"  
Carol looked at him with a worried expression. "No, but why are you asking things like this? Am I in trouble?"  
Trevor looked at her for a minute and sighed. He hated talking with people, he was horrible at social skills. After staying in the mountains away from cities for most of his life with his dogs, he figured it served him right to have to do something like this. That's what you get for running from a problem- it comes bite you in the ass later on. Should he just tell her the truth? Couldn't hurt.  
"Do you have anything special about you, Carol?" He looked up at her, and she realized for the first time that the air around them was filled with some sort of pressure- something heavy weighing on them both. What the hell was this?  
"N-no." She stammered, trying her best not to give anything away. This was getting freaky.  
"Nothing? No special abilities, no strange coincidences when you're angry or happy?"  
Carol shook her head again, her eyes widening when he held his hands slightly apart form each other, a small glow coming to them as electricity bounced from his palms. Man was the static bad around here or what? Carol looked at the ground, figuring that had to be it.

"I know what you can do, Caroline." Trevor said softly, reaching out to her with one of his hands, a small jolt of electricity running through her blood, making her spine shiver. This couldn't be real. There was no way. "When you sing, people fall asleep. They forget- don't they?"  
Caroline stood up as quick as she could from the table, backing up against the other isle. "Who the hell are you, what do you want?" She whispered, her voice breaking as tears welled into her eyes.

**Trevor isn't too good at talking with girls, is he :P Ah well, poor Carol will have to deal with it.**

**Next chapter will come ASAP!**


	3. Chapter 3

-1

"Shit, I messed this up didn't I?" Trevor sighed, and everything calmed again. "My name's Trevor. I was sent here to save you." He said, putting his head in his hand in pain. Damn, he shouldn't have shown off. Letting down his protection even for a minute had his brain feeling like it was boiling inside his skull.

"Save me from what?"  
"There's someone who's supposed to kill you in a month. I'm supposed to stop him. Whoever the hell it is." He looked at her through his fingers, to see if she was still there or if she had run for help. She was still there, terrified as a small defenseless animal. He took his head out of his hand and looked at her again thoughtfully. He could see how someone would get obsessed with her. She was too nice. Too compassionate. She was terrified of everything, like a small crippled canary. "Look, I'm really sorry for scaring you- this is the first time I've done something like this. I usually don't even go into cities, but I didn't want you to die." He said, putting a hand to his forehead in pain as sweat beaded on his brow. This was starting to get intolerable.

"Die?" She squeaked. She was going to die? But how would he know that? It's not like he could see the future or something crazy like that.  
"Yeah. One of the people in our agency can see the future. She saw that you were going to die, so they sent me out to stop whoever it is that's going to do it." He said, starting to get dizzy, the lights above him blinking on and off a few times. She looked up in shock and looked back down at Trevor, his hands grabbing fist-fulls of his hair to try to ease some of the pain from inside his head.  
"Hey- are you doing okay?" She said, touching his arm gently. He looked up at her, his eyes wide and glossed over as the entire restaurant lost power at once. Carol looked outside the window, seeing the same thing happen street after street, lights going out until the horizon blocked any more buildings in sight.

Trevor sighed, and swore loudly. He'd done it again God damn it, he'd lost control. He looked up and around him, and hung his head, swearing again. "I've done it again. I have to get the hell out of here. I told him this wasn't a good idea." He said, reminding himself to zap Orsanos' ass when he got back to the agency.

"You did this…?" Carol gasped, trying to see him in the darkness.   
"Yeah. That's my ability. I control and sense electricity. It feels… alive to me. Even heartbeats."

Carol sucked in a breath of shock, realizing that he was actually telling the truth. There was no way this could have been a coincidence. She leaned closer to him, not knowing where he was.  
"So you said I'm going to die, huh?" She whispered, looking around warily. Who would do such a thing?  
Trevor stopped breathing when he felt her breath against his cheek. She couldn't see him, so she didn't know how close she really was. He backed up and let out a soft breath of relief.  
"Yeah. We need to get you out of here somehow. You need to be saved, you can't die like that."  
"Like what?" She dared to ask, but soon wished she hadn't when he saw his face crumble into horror, even in the darkness.  
"I'm not telling you that part. It's too much." He said, shaking his head.  
Oh man, it must be really bad. Carol bit her lip nervously. "Alright, I'll go with you. But if you're lying… I'll… um… sing you off a cliff."

Trevor snickered, making her look in that direction with a glare, for all the good that did.

"You're not very threatening, Caroline." Trevor smiled to her, and stood up. "Go talk to your boss, tell him there's been a power outage due to a grid failure. He should send everyone home early. I'll walk you home. When we get there, I'll turn it all back on."  
"You can do that?" Caroline gasped quietly.  
"That and more." He smiled, and rolled his eyes at how tacky that sounded. "Nevermind, let's just get going. People are turning on generators."

Carol nodded and stood up, walking back into the kitchen.  
"Cook?" She looked around for him and saw him muttering and trying to clean. "Do you think we should close up because of the blackout?"  
"I suppose." Cook muttered, trying to clean pots and pans in the dark, and burning his hand constantly.

"Alright- I'll tell the customers. Would it be alright if I went home as well?"  
"What about that boy?" Cook looked up, buy still couldn't see Carol.  
"Oh, he's fine. He just wanted to chat. I was just worried for no reason." She giggled.

"Oh good. Alright little songbird, fly away home." The cook said, and focused on his duties. Carol smiled at his nickname for her. She had started working here in high school, when she was constantly singing and humming. He had liked her singing so much she had sung for entertainment here a few times before she swore it off, to his disappointment. Carol nodded and walked out of the kitchen, taking off her apron and walking over to the elderly woman in the corner.   
"Miss, I can put your coffee in a cup for you to take with you if you'd like, we're closing because of the power outage." Carol said softly.  
"Oh don't worry about it, dear. I'll just leave it. Here's the money for it, and a tip for you." The woman said in the darkness, and stood up after handing her the money. Carol looked down at the money in her hand, realizing it was only one bill. She held it up to the moonlight and gasped when she saw it was a twenty. She staggered for a bit at the woman's kindness and brought it over to the register to split it between the bill and the tip. She finished and walked back over to where Trevor was sitting, still chewing on his sandwich.  
"Left money here as well, and a tip for you, too." He said through a mouth full of food. Carol smiled and nodded, walking over to do the same.  
"Thanks Trevor. Now, let's talk about this organization you've been mentioning." She said, putting her apron on the table to pick up in the morning.

"Ah, of course." Trevor said, swallowing another bite. "It's a paranormal detection agency, specializing in protecting those with psychic abilities and such. You'd be amazed what some people can do. Like Fergi- she can tell the fate of someone just by looking at a photograph. Like when she looked at your high school picture-" he stopped, and froze in place, closing his eyes and looking down at her. He remembered what Orsanos had said over the phone and knew he couldn't let that happen to such a nice girl.

"So she saw how I was going to die." Carol said softly, and sighed softly. She realized, to her horror, that she really didn't mind dying. She had already killed so many people with her powers, even on accident, that she didn't see herself worth very much. What good was someone who accidentally killed people?  
"Hey- don't look so depressed." Trevor looked at her in confusion. What had made her mood swing so much?  
"Are you sure you want to save me?" She whispered, looking down at the ground as she walked.  
"What the hell are you talking about? Of course I do." Trevor said, sounding annoyed.

"You don't know what I've done though…" She said, her voice hitching a pitch as she tried not to cry from the memories- watching the boy's body convulse as he hit the wires, his mouth foaming, his eyes burning, looking straight at her as he died.

"Yes, I do." Trevor said softly, and put a hand on her arm, stopping her and turning her to him. "What you did was entirely an accident. You didn't know that would happen to him." he said firmly. Carol nodded softly, but still wasn't convinced.  
"He wasn't the only one. While I drove… accidents would happen around me all the time. I thought I was just a bad driver, but…" She sniffed, and Trevor tensed, realizing she was crying. Oh shit, _now_ what should he do?

"Carol- you didn't know. You shouldn't be so hard on yourself."  
"What's the use of saving someone if more people are going to die from her? Wouldn't it be better if I just got killed? More people would be saved that way." She said through sobs.

Trevor looked at her angrily and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Don't you talk like that! Just because people die in accidents doesn't mean it's your fault. Just because your ability makes people fall asleep doesn't mean it's a curse. You didn't murder them, Caroline, fate just chose to take them at that time. We've all had our accidents with our powers. You're not the only one that's killed someone. Don't talk like that…" He said, relaxing his grip on her shoulders. So, beneath all those smiles and giggles was a broken heart. He should have figured that from the start. He got the sudden urge to bring her into his arms and try to comfort her, to make her happy again, but he resisted it. He was still a complete stranger to her, it wouldn't be right.

"H-how many of us are there? Special people, I mean." She whispered, her voice still shaky.  
"More than you'd think hundreds, thousands, we just have to find them somehow, and protect them." He said softly, not wanting to upset her further. "I just need you to come with me, Carol. I don't want you to get hurt. You're too nice to get killed." Too nice, and too pretty. He hated what seeing the photograph of her smiling face drenched in blood might have looked like. He could never let that happen to her.  
"Too nice… Yeah, I can't help it. I'm a Sagittarius." She smiled.

"That doesn't have anything to do with it, and you know it. It's just stars." He looked at her, hoping she wasn't one of those people who obsessed over the alignment of the cosmos.  
"I know, but it's a good excuse." She chuckled.

Trevor rolled his eyes with a smirk. She would be a hassle to take care of- far too trusting for her own good, but at least she was good company. They stopped in front of her apartment, and Caroline walked up the steps, looking down at him. "I'll pack my bags. Where will we be going?"  
"It's best if I don't tell you until we leave. That way no one can follow us."  
"Alright…I guess I'll see you tomorrow." She smiled sweetly down at him and giggled as all the lights came back on at once.  
"Yep, see you then." He grinned under the beam of a street light and walked down the road to call a taxi to his hotel room.


	4. Chapter 4

Carol looked out the window of her apartment as she looked for Trevor on the street below, hoping he wouldn't come too soon. She had so much to pack- she didn't know how she would bring it all with her. Was it okay to bring 5 bags?  
Wait- was she even coming back?! She didn't want to leave all her stuff! Carol ran over to her trunk and took out a bunch of music books, looking at them thoughtfully. Should she bring them…? No. She set them back down and closed them into the darkness of the box as she heard a knock on her door. She looked out the window to see a blond man standing on her stoop, looking down at the watch on his hand nervously before knocking on the door again.

"Coming!" Carol yelled, running down the stairs and opening the door to him.  
"Rule number one: don't just open the hair to any blond person. I saw you looking out that window." Trevor rolled his eyes and stepped past her into the house. He looked around at the place, his eyes wide. "Woah- did a tornado hit or something?"  
"No- I was packing." She said, looking at the mess she had made in dismay. He was right, it did look like a tornado had come through. Random objects littered the ground around three stuffed bags, the zipper straining against so many objects that had been stuffed inside.

"Pack _lightly_, Carol." Trevor laughed, holding up the single small bag that hung off his shoulder. Carol sighed and looked over to her own bags.

"But we'll be gone for so _long_. What if someone breaks in and takes stuff?"  
"Don't worry about it, you'll be fine." Trevor sighed, shaking his head. "You're not much of an optimist, are you?"  
"Optimists live in a world where everything goes right. I know better than that." She said seriously, and walked over to her bags, taking out everything and putting a few back into a single bag. Trevor looked at her thoughtfully, somewhat glad she was a realist. She wasn't all sunshine and daisies, which gave them an advantage. He felt the slight whisper of a heartbeat at the back of her house and looked in that direction, quickly walking to the window and looking out the direction, seeing a neighbor looking into the window while riding a lawn mower through her yard.  
"Oh, that's Roger- he's nice. He mows my grass for me since he knows the only mower I have a hand mower."  
"That's retro. You seriously have one?" Trevor glanced at her, but kept his eye on the neighbor, who waved in greeting to him.  
"Yep- it's in the garage. I got it at a Goodwill about half a year ago. I was tired if having my back yard looking like a jungle."

Trevor smirked and was satisfied when the neighbor drove the mower off her small yard and back into his own, looking back at him curiously. Yeah move it along man, nothing to see here.

Trevor walked over as Carol zipped up the single bag she was now bringing with her, and hoisting it onto her shoulder with a grunt of effort. He rolled his eyes and took it off her back, almost dropping it in shock at the weight.  
"Holy hell woman, what did you fit in here?!" He said, afraid the strap was going to break as he set it on his back on the opposite shoulder his own was already on.  
"Um… a brush, a few books, some clothes, a toothbrush, my notebook, a few pencils and pens, oh! And don't forget about the music books." She smiled, naming off the objects on her hands.  
Trevor sighed in exasperation and walked toward the door. Alright- we'll have to hurry though, we have to get to the airport in an hour, and you know how they've been lately. We're sending these through baggage- no carry on, it takes too long." Trevor said, and Carol closed the door behind them. He called a taxi with a loud whistled, and a yellow car waiting at the end of a street sped over, parking in front of them as the driver popped the trunk and set their baggage inside.   
"Where you off to?" The driver said, sitting back in his seat.  
"The airport, please." Trevor said, and leaned forward to look at the driver. "And fast."  
"Alright- no prob'." The taxi driver smiled and sped down the residential area on their way to the airport.  
"So, where are we going now?" Carol said, looking out the window at the houses passing by.  
"North Carolina. You're going to meet the boss." Trevor smiled as she squeaked in shock and looked at him with a horrified expression.  
"Oh don't worry, you'll like him." He chuckled. She'd probably freak out when Orsanos showed her his elven form- the immortal loved showing off, so he'd probably enjoy the attention as well.

"Alright…" Carol said nervously, looking back out the window with a small sigh.  
"You worried?"  
"I've never been… out of town before." She said nervously. "Haven't needed to."

"You're kidding- you've lived in the city your whole life?"  
"Yep- that was my mother and father's house I was living in." She said, her forehead resting on the window.

But there hadn't been anyone else in the house when he had been there… "Were they at work?"  
Caroline made a melancholy smile and closed her eyes. "No."

"Oh. Sorry." Trevor said, running a hand through his hair uneasily. Damn, he hated these tense silences.

"It's okay, it was another accident." She said softly, looking over at him.  
Holy shit- she didn't… Trevor looked at her nervously, hoping what he was thinking wasn't what had happened.  
"Oh, don't worry. Nothing like that." Carol laughed, seeing his very nervous expression. "Alright." Trevor said in relief. Thank god- that would be a little too much death even for him to handle.  
"No, they died in a car crash a little while back. Drunk driver in the morning, bang crash boom, gone." She said, her light blue eyes looking at him shyly. She hadn't talked with anyone about her parent's deaths for a long time. The wound was still too fresh.  
"Ah, sorry about that." Trevor said, looking up as the taxi came to a screeching halt, sending Caroling forward and gasping for air from shock. She looked out her window to see them parked outside the airport, wondering how they had gotten here so quickly.   
"Right. Thanks for making it so fast, man. You're great." Trevor undid his seatbelt and leaned forward, handing the driver a twenty, who thanked him. They got out of the car and grabbed their luggage, walking into the airport to get to their plane.

The taxi driver saw them leave and picked up his cell phone, watching which way they went into the airport before looking down to concentrate.  
"Hey-" He said into the phone, as another voice on the end yelled in anger at him. "Don't blame me- Veronica was supposed to watch her in the city. She's heading to North Carolina with some young punk." The voice yelled more into the receiver, making the driver roll his eyes. "Look, that's all I know. North Carolina. Should we follow?" He said, holding the phone away from his ear slightly as the yells got louder. "Alright, alright! Jeez man, calm down. We'll get her soon." He said, and hung up the phone, walked out of the taxi, leaving it at the curb and went up the counter to get a ticket for North Carolina with a credit card. This wasn't looking good. Veronica had seen the kid in the restaurant do some weird shit with his hands and then the power went out. He hoped it wasn't another freak they would have to take out as well. He thanked the receptionist for his ticket and walked over toward the gates to board the next plane.


	5. Chapter 5

"Alright, we're here." Trevor smiled up at the old, beat up building in front of him happily. Carol looked at him with raised eyebrows and examined the building as well. It looked like an old apartment building, desolate and ignored for years- paint was peeling off the walls, the railing to the stairs up to the front door was bent and broken, and most of the windows were broken in by rocks or wind.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Carol looked at Trevor warily, who looked at her and nodded, walking up to the front door, telling her to be careful with the second step- which was ready to crumble under the slightest weight.

He knocked on the door three times, and to Carol's surprise the doorbell hinged up and a keypad came out of the wall. Trevor put in some code and she heard a loud 'chunk', like a bolt unlocking. The door slowly opened on its own, and Trevor walked through, guiding Carol in behind him.

"Welcome to Headquarters." Trevor said, motioning to the building around him.

The interior of the building was a traditional Victorian décor, ornate furniture and wallpaper cluttering the rooms with luxury until Carol's jaw dropped in shock. This was _nothing_ like what the outside had been like.  
"Ah, Trevor- at last. Please bring her to my office right away. I'd like to speak with her." A voice spoke over a intercom overhead, making different people who were sitting around the building look around for where Trevor and the new person was. A man stood up on the other side of the room connecting to the hallway they were in, and greeted Trevor quickly before turning to Carol.  
"Ah, Grüße, new one." The man smiled and shook her hand enthusiastically. "Ah, where are my manners? My name is Adolph. Welcome to the agency." He looked to Trevor, whose head was still spinning from the air flight. "You don't look too good, mein freund. I suggest you get some rest."

"Ah- thanks Adolph, but I have to get her to Orsanos before he starts yelling at me over the intercom again."  
"Geben sie mit dem unsterblichen, mein freund acht." Adolph said, glancing up the stairs nervously. "Er ist nicht in einer guten stimmung heute."

"I'll keep that in mind." Trevor said with a sigh, looking up at the stairs as well. "Any idea why?"

"Two words: Jackie, skirt." Adolph said with a sly smirk. He turned back to Carol. "Do not fret, kleines. Orsanos is a kind… person. You will see." He looked back to Trevor as if to remind him of what he had said. Trevor nodded back and motioned Carol to the stairs.  
"What did he say?" Carol looked at Trevor in confusion as she glanced down to Adolph, who winked up to her.  
"Nothing, it's not a big deal." He said, looking back at her as he climbed the steps and stopped in front of a large, ornately carved door. It showed different animals and humanoid figures dancing with each other as if in unison, and finally at the bottom of the door stood one lone figure watching them. She wondered what it meant as Trevor opened the door to reveal an old man sitting at a large oak desk, his chin resting on bony hands.

"Welcome, young one. Are you alright?" The man said, and looked to Trevor in satisfaction.

"Yes, I am." Carol said softly, feeling very awkward in the building with so many people she didn't know.

"There is no need to worry, child. Everyone here is your ally, no one will ail you." The old man said with a smile.  
Carol looked at him curiously. He sure did talk strangely, and with a strange accent she couldn't place. It seemed as if it were a mixture of Gaelic and Japanese, if such a thing were possible.

"Orsanos, you should let her see." Trevor dared to say, shifting on his feet nervously. The old man looked at him with flashing eyes and glanced over to his secretary in the corner before looking back to Carol.  
"I will show you something that may surprise you. You must promise not to go too… what does Jessica call it… 'wonky'." The old man smiled wryly.

Carol nodded warily and gasped as the old man started glowing a bright golden color, his skin smoothing, his eyes becoming more clear, and his ears distending. His grey hair paled to a pure white, and bright, forest-green eyes looked at her thoughtfully.  
"You're- you're a…" Carol gasped, taking a step back in shock. No way. No way this could be real… could it?  
"Yes, whatever you'd like to call my race, I'm an immortal. Elven, faerie, wizard, whatever suites you best. I do not mind."  
"N-no way. This can't be real…" Carol looked to Trevor for reassurance that she wasn't crazy, who only nodded and chuckled.

"I had the same reaction the first time I saw Orsanos too. He's the real deal. An elf."

"I have lived for dozens of centuries, yet I have not seen your ability, young one."

"_dozens?_ How old are you?"  
"I was your age during the Battle At Chalons. The Romans and Visigoths fought against Attila of the Huns."

"_Attila the Hun?_" Carol gasped in shock.

"Yes. Quite a vicous fellow, and very popular with the ladies." Orsanos grinned as Carol stepped back, her mind realing in shock.

"That makes you over 1700 years old!"  
Orsanos looked up thoughtfully for a minute before nodding in agreement. "Time really does fly lately. Today's technology makes the world move much quicker than before. Either way- child, I have a visitor for you. She may have an adverse reaction to you, so do not worry." Orsanos looked over at Jackie expectedly, who nodded grimly and opened another door into the office. A young girl walked inside shyly, staying close to the wall as an act of defense.  
"_Fergi."_ Trevor smiled at the small girl, who looked up at him and gasped in horror. She quickly turned away from the people in the room, her eyes swelling with tears.

"Fergi- what's wrong?" Trevor took a step toward the girl and stopped, realizing she might run. "Come on Ferdinelle- tell us what's wrong."  
"You have to stop Trevor, you have to go away." Ferdinelle said through soft sobs, turning back to him.

Through her eyes she saw his skin burned to the bone, only have his face recognizable under the horrific cuts and melted skin. Muscles hung from his arms limply from severed tendons, and white slivers of bone showed in more places than she cared to look. He looked like he had been burned _alive_. What was worse was that now the woman standing beside him not only had a bullet wound to her head and bruises and small cuts all over her, but her abdomen was slashed open violently, spewing blood and organs down her front. Someone did not like the change that Orsanos had brought to the situation. "You're going to die too, Trevor. She only gets worse now." Fergi said, and turned away again as everyone in the room went into a tense silence.  
"_Worse?_" Carol whispered, remembering what Trevor's reaction had been before- now it was _worse?_

"This is what I feared. The person cannot be acting alone, then." Orsanos said grimly, resting his chin on his hand as he thought. "This means that there has to have been at least two or more men at the scene to overpower both Carol and Trevor. This calls for far more drastic measures." Orsanos held down a button in front of him, connected to the microphone. "Adolph- will you please come here for a moment?"

"Adolph? He won't want to die too though. This doesn't need any more sacraficed lives, Orsanos." Trevor said, his voice gruff from the shock that came from finding out he was currently destined to die hideously, from what Fergi's expression told him.  
"We will see how he feels." The elf said quietly as Adolph walked through the door confidently, looking at the small and scared Fergi in the corner.

"Ah- Mädchen, do not worry so." He said, trying to comfort the girl, who looked up meekly. "What seems to be the problem, boss?" Adolph said, standing straight in front of Orsanos.  
"Thank you for reporting so quickly Adolph. The situation has taken a turn for the worse, I'm afraid." The elf said, looking at the German's eyes thoughtfully. The bright golden eyes were normal for his kind, which in this case gave them a great advantage. "Would you be willing to help Trevor and Carol, even if it means a certain death?"

Adolph was silent for a minute, and looked toward Fergi. "Trevor now too, huh kleines?" Fergi nodded slowly, and Adolph let out a short sigh. "I suppose that leaves me no choice then, does it? I can't let Trevor die, nor can I let such a schöne Frau die as well. I will go with them and protect her."

Fergi gasped as she looked up, the wounds healing on Trevor and Carol's bodies as Adolph finished his sentance. The little girl cheered and ran over to Trevor to hug his waist. "Everything's alright now! You live, and she lives!" Fergi looked over to Carol and grinned broadly. "Gee, your pretty now!"  
Carol blushed as Trevor chuckled, prying the girl off his leg. "Thank you, Fergi. I know you don't like seeing things like that."  
"Oh, it's ok. As long as it's not too bad. I remember this one guy- his whole face was blown off and bugs were crawling everywhere! That's the worst I've seen though."

Carol went from a blush to a blanch at the visual image of what that must have looked like and wobbled a little bit. "Oh my."

"Yeah, I've gotten better with it though." Fergi said confidently, and walked over to Jackie as she called Fergi's name.

"You alright?" Trevor looked at Carol in concern as she kept wobbling slightly from the image of the horror that must have been.  
"Yeah, I think s-" She said, falling to the ground in a dead faint.  
"Scheiße!" Adolph yelled, moving quick enough to catch her before she hit the ground. "Agh, this girl is so faint at heart. It will be difficult to keep her safe if she faints at even the idea of shot gun wounds."

"She's a sheltered girl, to a point. Trust me, her room is filled with unicorns and stuffed wolves." Trevor rolled his eyes.  
"You've been in her room?" Orsanos looked at Trevor with amusement.  
"Stuffed wolves?" Adolph looked hopefully down at Carol as he moved her into a better position to carry her.  
"I didn't mean it like that, either of you!" Trevor said, his face flushing slightly. He looked at Adolph warily. "And don't get any ideas, Adolph. She's been through way too much lately."

"You worry too much, mein freund." The German man laughed, carrying Carol out of the room to one of the empty quaters to rest in until she woke up.  
"Be careful with her, Trevor. She is a valuable asset. I do not know what she is capable of; all I know is that she is a genuine siren. The first in more than a millenia."

"Great. No pressure." Trevor sighed, and followed Adolph out of the room.


	6. Chapter 6

-1"Do not look so worried, Trevor. She will awaken soon enough. She is probably just tired from the journey here as well." Adolph tried to comfort Trevor as they sat on chairs in the room Carol was resting in.  
"That's not what I'm worried about. I'm just wondering who would send a group of thugs to go after Carol. She's way too nice to make real enemies, and she hasn't used her powers n public enough to reveal that she's a siren."  
"A siren? A real, honest-to-God siren? Maybe she is in my league after all." Adolph grinned in pleasant surprise, making Trevor stare at him in disbelief.  
"You don't even know anything about her! How can you think like that when you don't know what she's like?"  
"On the contrary mein freund, I know she is quiet, kind and she likes wolves. That is enough to satisfy me."  
"Oh? And when are you going to tell her what you really are, Adolph? You have to think of that side of you a well when you think about relationships."  
"Yes, that is true." Adolph said, looking down at Carol sadly as she slept. "Perhaps she will be the exception?"  
"I don't know. This is all very new to her. I would wait a while before revealing anything to her."  
"Aye, I will. The sin is setting, Trevor. I must take my leave." Adolph stood and walked out of the room, looking back at Carol one last time before walking out of he doorway.   
"Hey Adolph." Trevor called. Adolph turned back around and looked back in the doorway. "You'll find the right girl someday man, cheer up." Trevor said, and Adolph let out a soft sigh, walking over to his own room and closing the door behind him.  
Trevor watched after Adolph in concern, worried about his friend. Adolph was a ladies man, able to get along with almost any woman in the world, until he showed his true self. After that, most women ignored he fact that he even existed, or for a few worse cases, turned hostile and started attacking him. He couldn't imagine being in a situation where he was terrified whether his girlfriend would turn on him if he showed his true self.  
He looked down at Carol as she stirred in her sleep and remembered her reaction to discovering his powers. She hadn't been scared at all- in fact she had been excited, as if she was finding out she wasn't the only freak in the world. For some reason, he couldn't imagine Adolph and Caroline getting together- it just seemed wrong to him.  
Carol groaned n pain and sat up, holding her head as it span. "Oh man, what happened?"  
"You fainted."  
"Oh great." Carol moaned in exasperation, putting her face in her hands in embarrassment.  
"Don't worry, everyone's fine with it. You've had a long past few days." Trevor grinned "You're alright, though?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just annoyed with myself for fainting in front of everyone like that."  
"Don't worry about it, really." Trevor looked out the window as the moon started raising into the dark sky.  
Carol looked up in shock as she heard a familiar voice cry out n pain from down the hall. She stood up quickly and ran out the door to see what was wrong as she realized the voice belonged to Adolph.  
"Carol, wait!" Trevor called after her, swearing as he scrambled after her. He grabbed her by the waist to hold her back from the door as she struggled with the knob of the locked door to Adolph's room, where another groan sounded out.  
"Let me go, Trevor! Adolph might be in trouble! What is wrong with you?! I have to help him!" Carol yelled struggling against Trevor's grip. "Adolph- I heard you yell, are you alright in there?!"  
She struggled against Trevor more, finally stopping the struggle with a swift elbow to his gut, making him gasp for break and let her go.  
"I am well, kleines." Adolph's voice came from the other side of the closed door, but he sounded panicked.  
"Are you sure? You sounded like you were in a lot of pain in there!" Carol said, pressing herself against the door to hear him.  
"I… tripped." Adolph said hesitantly.   
"Bullshit!" Carol yelled, shocking Trevor. Where had little miss innocent gone? "Open this damn door right now, because I'm not leaving until I see you, Adoph!" she said, pounding a fist to the door.  
There was a heavy silence, and the door unlocked, opening slightly to reveal the darkness inside the room, against Adolph's robed silhouette.  
"See? I'm alright. Now go." He growled, and started to close the door again, but Carol reached out for his hand to stop him, gasping in shock as she came into contact with his hand. It was covered in a soft fur, course against his hand. Adolph hissed nervously, but kept his hand under hers, too frightened to move, his golden eyes wide a he watched her step back in surprise.  
"Adolph…" Trevor said in concern, seeing the raw fear in Adolph's eyes.  
"Y-You're… what are you?" Carol whispered. Touching his hand again gently. It was a normal human hand, but covered in soft blond fur, the palm covered with black leather-like pads, and his nails formed into long, wicked claws. She let go of his hand and looked up to his face, hidden underneath the hood of his robe. She reached up slowly, and moved the hood back to reveal his face. She saw Adolph's very frightened eyes in a face that was a mixture of wolf and human, the human cheekbones forming into a short, small snout that joined a wolf's nose and his mouth, and two golden wolf's ears on the top of his head,  
He closed his eyes in pain, ready for the scream, or for her to run or start hitting him. He hoped it would be the second. Instead, she reached up to gently trace the curve of snout with her finger. He looked down at her in disbelief that she was actually able to even look at him in this form.  
"So, what are you then? A shapeshifter?" She asked softly, moving her hand to trace his high cheekbone. Adolph's face was normally very angular, but now it was almost pointed, the cheeks much higher than before.  
"I'm a werewolf." He said softly, his eyes widening as she smiled softly.  
"Seriously? But it's not a full moon, why did you transform?"  
Adolph chuckled and moved her hand from his face and held it in his, brushing the back of her palm with the leather pads on his hand. "That is a myth. I transform into a were every night, not just on a full moon."  
Trevor watched the two talk softly, as if any sudden movements would send both of them into a bolt.  
"Okay then, so who bit you then?"  
"Again, another myth. I was born a werewolf- we were once a very powerful race, but lately we have dwindled to very few. You are not scared of me, kleines?"  
"Why would I be? I can control people just by singing, Trevor's a human electric eel, so why would a werewolf be any weirder?"  
Adolph smiled brightly and grabbed her into a tight hug, crushing her against him in relief. "Danke, Carol." He said gently, and let her go again.  
"So what about silver then? Is that a myth too?" Carol said eagerly.  
"No, that is real. Silver takes away my ability to heal my own wounds quickly. It acts as if it is a normal, mortal wound."  
"Interesting. So this is your were form, then? It looks more like a fuzzy version of your human form." She smiled.  
Adolph laughed, hardly able to believe he was able to talk like this with her. "No, not truly. Both of you, come into my room and we will talk further. " Adolph said, letting them into the room and closing the door behind them. Trevor and Carol both sat in different chairs in the room, and Trevor chuckled.  
"There's no need to show me anything, Adolph. Go ahead and show off for the girl if you'd like,." He said as Adolph took off the robe, revealing that he was still wearing his normal clothing from earlier.  
"I'm sorry Carol, but this is starting to be very painful." He said, and to Carol's horror reached a hand into the back of his pants and pulled out a long golden tail with a sigh of relief, letting it sit above the hem of his pants. Carol giggled and as Adolph took off his shirt, she noticed his chest's muscles were formed a very different way, so that everything was oriented toward the top of the torso.  
"I said show off, not strip." Trevor said, his face apprehensive as Adolph flung the shirt onto the floor carelessly.  
"Fur is warm, mein Freund. Unless you would want to learn of the wonderful smell of a sweaty werewolf, I suggest you not complain." He said, reaching down to take off his pants as well to Carol's horror. She let out a squeal and quickly turned away, her face flushed crimson.  
"No use in ripping perfectly good pants." Adolph explained, and let them fall to the floor as well. "There, now I can show you my true were form." He closed his eyes, groaning in pain as muscles popped and melted, reforming into a new skeleton as he doubled over in pain, his organs realigning inside his body. Carol stood and put a hand to his shoulder gently to comfort him through the pain, feeling the muscles ripple and build underneath her palm. He stood, looking much more wolf-like, his legs bent like a wolf's, but with longer arms to balance himself with. His face was formed into a longer snout, his entire head nearly exact to a wolf's, except for the cheeks, which still had a slight human curve to them. He pointed to his mouth and let out a soft growl.  
"You can't talk in this form, huh?" Carol chuckled, and put a hand to his chest to feel the thick, golden fur there. He smiled down at her, but his ears flipped toward the window as he heard a sound, and let out a fierce growl as he ran over to look outside. He looked around, his nose sniffing the air and his ears flipping back, his eyes turning wide. He quickly and very painfully shifted to his most human like form so he could talk. "I smell explosives." He said, his voice wary.


	7. Chapter 7

-1"What?" Trevor yelled, looking around nervously. He lowered his mental barriers to 'feel' for an abnormal electrical pulse and sure enough, a small hum of current was coming from the direction of Carol's purse on the floor next to her. She had kept it with her the whole time, as was a habit when a girl was out of her home. She looked at him in shock as he grabbed her purse and started rooting around in it for the pulse, and found her cell phone. He felt a homing signal in it as well and swore loudly, the hum of electricity getting louder as the explosives started charging to go off.  
Adolph yelled as he heard the small screeching sound of the activator and tackled Carol to the ground to protect her as Trevor threw the cell phone as far as he could out the window, which exploded when it hit the ground, making a small crater in the sidewalk in front of the house. Trevor sighed in relief, wondering if that's what he would have died from, had Adolph not smelled the explosives first  
"Are you alright, kleines? Adolph said, sitting up so he wasn't crushing Carol underneath him. She nodded quietly, wondering how someone had gotten her cell phone rigged like that, and why they would want to kill her.  
"Well this puts a little turn on things." Trevor muttered, looking out the window to see if anyone was around, watching them.  
"Ja, it means someone not only wants to kidnap her, someone else wants to kill her." Adolph said, thinking aloud.   
"What did I do to these people? I haven't done anything wrong, have I?" Carol said quietly, her voice wavering slightly as she looked at both men.  
"Nein, kleines. The people after you are perverse and you are only a target to them because you are so beautiful and talented." Adolph grinned broadly, trying to cheer Carol up.  
Carol blushed and looked down. "Talented… maybe." She muttered under her breath, and looked at the window. "But to kill me? Why would they want to do that?"  
"Maybe they know about your powers, Carol. Yours is a very unusual gift." Trevor said thoughtfully, raising his barriers back up so that he could no longer hear or feel any of the electricity in the house.  
"You mean curse. Remember, I've killed people with this power." Carol said bitterly, her memories flooding back to her.  
"Everyone has accidentally killed people with their gifts." Adolph said, looking up to Trevor silently. "Some gifts are more dangerous than others though, like yours and Trevor's."  
Carol looked up at Trevor curiously, wondering what had happened in his past. He looked away with an ashen face, not wanting to talk about it.  
She sighed slightly, and slumped against the bedpost behind her. "God, what a week. I'm so exhausted I feel like I'm going to melt."  
"No melting against my bed, schöne Frau, I would never be able to sleep knowing you were there." Adolph snickered, ruffling Carol's hair playfully. She smiled back and looked up at Trevor, who was still silent with a very pained face, like he was remembering bad memories. She knew the expression all too well.  
"I should get to bed then. I'll see you guys in the morning?"  
"Ja meine schöne Frau, I will see you in the morning." Adolph said, and stood up to guide them to the door.  
"We'll talk about leaving here in the morning as well. Orsanos will want to know what that noise was, but won't want to panic everyone by saying it over the intercom. That phone had a homing beacon in it too, so they know where we are." Trevor said stiffly, and walked out of the room.   
"What's wrong with him?" Carol said curiously, watching Trevor walk quickly down the hall and into his own room, closing the door behind him.  
"He has had rough times, and a lot of bad luck in his past, kleines. It seems he thinks it is still continuing. I will talk with him in the morning. Do not fret, he gets in his moods occasionally." Adolph leaned down and kissed her forehead softly, his coarse fur scratching against her skin. "Now go to bed, Carol. You will need your rest for tomorrow." He looked down at her with warm eyes. "And thank you again, meine schöne Frau, for not screaming when you first saw me."  
"Y-you're welcome." She said quietly, blushing from the kiss and walked down the hall, holding her purse closely to her. When she got to her room, she dumped the contents out, keeping only the essentials and throwing the rest of the things out- just in case.

"Thank God I cannot eat that stuff- it looks like puke." Adolph looked at Trevor cereal with disgust, holding a large plate of bacon and sausage in his hands.  
"That's just because you're a carnivore, you big shag rug." Trevor said, taking a bite out of the cereal, wondering where Carol was. She hadn't come down for breakfast yet, and he knew the house was too loud for her to be asleep now. Everyone was down in the dining hall around a large table, eating food hungrily and chatting enthusiastically.  
When Carol finally walked in, Trevor nearly didn't recognize her. She had been wearing her hair up in a pony tail since he had seen her, and now she wore her wavy hair down, the strands cascading down her back like a waterfall. Her bright eyes looked around nervously at all the other people, who only glanced at her and continued what they were doing. Adolph stood up and brought a chair between him and Trevor for her.  
"Gott, schauen Sie schönen heutigen Tag, kleines!" He smiled to her, making Trevor roll his eyes.  
"Honestly Adolph, you've got to stop flirting shamelessly like that." He said, taking another bite of cereal.  
"Oh it's alright Trevor, I can't understand half of what he says anyway." Carol giggled, sitting down and looking back in surprise when Adolph politely scooted her into her seat.  
"Yeah, well I can, and it pisses me off for some reason." He said around a bite of food, making Adolph look at him with a wary expression, but continuing to eat his bacon.  
"We'll leave after breakfast, so I hope you have everything packed, Carol." Trevor continued, and set his spoon down in his empty bowl. Carol sighed, looking after him.  
"I tried talking with him kleines, but it only made things worse." Adolph sighed as well, and handed her several strips of bacon and a sausage. "You can eat those, I'll go get you some of that nasty mush Trevor was eating." He said, and stood up to go get the cereal.  
Carol looked down at the huge, greasy pieces of Canadian bacon and picked one up, taking a small bite out of it. Apparently Adolph liked his food nearly raw, because the meat was still chewy and hard to swallow. She got through it though, and smile when Adolph brought back her cereal.  
"Do not worry, we will be fine. Eat your food, and we will take my car… somewhere. I do not know where yet." Adolph smiled, and snatched up another piece of bacon, popping it into his mouth happily.


	8. Chapter 8

-1"I do hope you come back and stay with us after you three are satisfied you are safe." Orsanos stood in the hallway of the headquarters in front of Carol, Trevor and Adolph, who were each holding backpacks.   
"Oh, I'm sure we will I left some of my stuff here." Carol said, hoisting her bag over her shoulder to carry it easier.  
"Ja, I will come back as well. This place is like a home to me now." Adolph nodded and glanced to Trevor, who looked uneasy. Adolph knew that Trevor would most likely go back to the mountains where there was no large amount of electricity for miles around.

"I'll come back too." He said quietly, surprising both Adolph and Orsanos. He would come back to an electric-filled house? How unlike him.

"I really am sorry I brought danger to everyone here, Orsanos." Carol whispered, hanging her head sadly.

"Ah, young one- there is no need to apologize." Orsanos said reassuringly. He put a finger under her chin to force her to look back up. "What really matters is that you are safe. You are a kind and gentle woman with a wonderful gift that you do not fully understand yet. You have but to call, and we will come to help you in a dire situation."

Carol nodded happily and looked to Adolph and Trevor "Are you guys ready?" She smiled.

"Ja, Kleines, let us go." Adolph nodded.  
"Yeah, let's get going before Jackie wants us to fill out the leave-of-absence papers." Trevor smirked.  
Adolph's eyes widened and he stepped further toward the door to hurry them along before that might happen.

"Alright, you two- we'll go." Carol laughed and grabbed them both by the wrists, dragging them out the door with a final farewell to Orsanos.

"Good Lord, Adolph- how the hell did you afford this car?!" Carol stared at the yellow Maserati GranTurismo in front of her in amazement.

"Hey- I've lived for over 175 years now. I might as well have some fun with the money I get along the way." Adolph said, clicking the unlock button on his keyrin with a 'beep beep' from the car. They piled into the car, Adolph driving with Trevor in the passenger, and Carol in the back.  
"So where are we heading then?" Carol said as they pulled out of the driveway.  
"Well, if we head east we'll hit the ocean and I don't think this baby can swim." Trevor said, patting the dashboard of the car affectionately.

"Our goal should be… Colorado, would you say, Trevor?" Adolph said thoughtfully.  
"Sounds good to me." Trevor nodded.

Carol smiled and leaned against the window as she looked at the buildings and trees passing by, flinching when Adolph turned on the radio. At once she had the urge to sing- as she always did, but held back, since it would be a bad idea.

"Carol, why don't you ever sing anymore?" Adolph glanced at her depressed expression in the rear view mirror. Trevor glared at Adolph, who glanced back to him with a knowing expression.

"She needs to embrace her gift Trevor, not deny it. You were the same way after-"  
"STOP!" Trevor yelled, the car revving suddenly as he shouted.

Caroline froze, looking at Trevor's intense expression at Adolph and sunk into her seat in fear. She _really_ didn't want this to go any further. She could feel the electricity in the air, and she knew it wasn't from the tension between the two men.

A heavy silence followed, everyone in the car trying to keep to themselves. She couldn't stand this…

People chasing her for no reason, trying to kill her just because she was born. Not to mention the only two people that were there to protect her were too busy arguing she never felt safe anymore. She felt so alone, as if she had given up everything from her past for nothing, and was going to die either way.

She felt her eyes burning as she stared out the window, trying to distract herself, but couldn't stop a tear from streaming down her cheek silently. Trevor froze in the front seat, the electricity vanishing from the air as he turned a bright eye to Carol in concern. He saw the tear and sighed in frustration, turning around in his seat to get a better look at her.  
"Hey- Caroline." He tried to get her attention, but she ignored him. He reached a hand back to touch her arm gently to get her attention. She finally looked up at him with misty eyes and her cheeks rosy, but refused to look him in the eye, focusing instead where his hand was touching her.  
"I'm sorry if I upset you, I just…" His other hand ran through his blond hair nervously. "I'm just from a bad past, and I don't like talking about it."  
"Alright." Carol said, her voice raspy. "I'm just scared- no, terrified of what's going on. I don't know why anyone would be after me."  
"Neither do we, kleines." Adolph said, looking at her in the mirror.  
"Do you have any ideas who would be after you? Anyone at all?" Trevor asked.

"The only thing I can think of is if they knew the guy from high school."  
"A, I hadn't thought of that. Perhaps a brother?" Trevor said thoughtfully. "Was there anyone else close to him?"  
"No, not really. He was pretty shy, and no one that would go to such drastic measures as this." carol shook her head.  
"You never know what a person will do if they are touched in the head, kleines." Adolph said, speeding down the highway as the evening started to end.  
"We'll keep a close eye out, Caroline. No one will get at you while we're around." Trevor said to her reassuringly, but his face was grim.

Caroline nodded silently, not entirely convinced. She set her head against the glass and watched the other cars pass them through sad eyes. "I guess I just don't like to sing because I'm afraid the same thing will happen again."

Trevor looked at her in surprise, not expecting such a confession so suddenly. "So am I. When I was younger… I hurt a lot of people." He said, looking down for a minute before looking back up at her. "But you have to face fear and beat its ass if you ever want to live your life without regret. I want you to sing again Carol, and sometime soon. I'd like to hear it." He said, and turned back around in his seat thoughtfully. Carol smiled softly and let out a sarcastic chuckle.  
"Trevor, I don't mean to alarm you, but do you know what the date is?" Adolph asked a little too calmly, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly.

"Sure, it's the third. Why?" Trevor looked at him curiously, and sank back into his seat in dread, his eyes wide. "Oh shit, you have to be fucking kidding me…"  
"I'm afraid not. Would you by chance want to drive for a while until we get to the country somewhere?" Adolph smiled happily, fangs gleaming in the light of the setting sun.  
"Sure. Pull over and get the hell out." Trevor said, looking back to Carol, as if checking she was still there. He looked back ahead as Trevor pulled off the highway and onto the curb. Adolph calmly got out, and Trevor pulled open the door to yank Carol out of the back seat, Adolph sitting there in her place. Carol ran over to the passenger seat and looked at Trevor in confusion as he pushed the gas on the car, the tires squealing in protest to accelerating so suddenly.  
"HEY- watch it!" Adolph yelled, but gritted his teeth.

"Shut up, Adolph. You should have told me earlier what today was, you asshole. You've put Carol in danger too, now." Trevor glanced at Carol and turned into the nearest exit and onto the road connected to it, running several red lights.  
"What's going on?" Carol looked at them both, her eyes wild. Something was wrong, very wrong. She could feel it in her bones- like something evil was trying to claw itself to the surface very nearby.

"Tonight is the full moon, Carol." Adolph said in a strained voice as he looked out the window with glowing eyes, his fangs lengthening.  
"But I thought the full moon thing was a myth. Don't you change every night?"  
"He does, but on full nights, it's… different. He turns feral." Trevor said, his voice low as he swore and turned onto a dirt road, mud spraying onto the car as he drove.

"You don't mean… he'll be…" She looked at Adolph with wide eyes and scooted away slightly.  
"Wild, yes. That's why we have to get to the deep country as quickly as possible. No one will be hurt there."

"Hurry." Adolph growled, fur rippling over his body as he closed his eyes in pain.

"I'm hurrying, Adolph- hang on as long as you can man, we're almost there." Trevor looked ahead of him in determination, prepared to do whatever was necessary. He skidded off the road, frustrated enough with this never ending expanse of farmland. He rolled over the fields until he finally stopped just outside a forest. Adolph grabbed his bag and flung himself out of the rear seat and into the forest at a sprint.


	9. Chapter 9

"Will he be okay

"Will he be okay?" Carol looked after Adolph as he sprinted into the forest, already half transformed.  
"I hope so. Until morning, we've got to watch out for him though." Trevor said, grabbing his own bag out of the back and getting out of the car, settling right in front of it. "I just hope no one finds us out in their field and tries to shoot us or anything. I don't really like knocking people unconscious." Trevor said, digging through his bag for some granola bars. He tore into one with his teeth, taking a large bite of it and tossed the other one over to Carol. She tore it open slowly, looking into the forest in concern. Adolph had seemed in so much pain, and so worried about them. She bit her lip nervously, and looked at the grass in front of her as she took a small bite out of the granola bar.  
"Hey- Adolph's a tough son of a bitch, don't worry about him." Trevor said casually. Carol looked at him thoughtfully, and her eyebrows furrowed.  
"Why do you swear so much, Trevor?"  
"huh?" He looked at her in surprise, his ice-blue eyes wide. "What do you mean?"  
"You swear in almost every sentence you say. Why?"  
Trevor grinned, his eyes flashing. "I grew up in a rough neighborhood in the heart of Manhattan. You have to learn to be a tough asshole of you want to live there for very long." He took another bite of his food, leaning against the car behind him. "But I don't like being mean to people, so I wasn't very successful there. Besides, if you're constantly an asshole, you get full of shit really quickly." He smirked, finishing off his granola bar.  
"So then why did you move?" Carol said quietly, still watching the forest carefully.  
"Well, I suppose because it felt like something was screaming in my head the entire time I was in New York. Like a thousand voices were all trying to yell at me at once, and I couldn't plug my ears or turn them off. Hurts like hell, you know. That's why I don't go into big cities- my brain fucking explodes every time I do."  
"I see." Carol said, glancing at him before looking back down. "And you came to Detroit to save me, even though it hurt so much?"  
"Yeah well, it's not like I could let that happen to you and just turn away. Only a pussy would turn away from helping a woman in danger." He looked at her, his bright eyes abnormally calm.  
"What would have happened to me, anyway? I'm just curious."  
Trevor looked at her for a minute and shook his head. "I don't know if I should tell you. It's pretty fucked up."  
"Please?" Carol turned to him, her eyes wide. She had to know what these people were willing to do to her to get their way.  
Trevor shook his head. "You've got killer puppy-dog eyes Carol." He looked back up at her and sighed. "Alright, I'll tell you. Just don't freak out or anything. I can't deal with women who are in a fenzy."  
"I promise I won't. Please- I need to know."  
"Alright, alright. They were going to… hurt you, and shoot you in the head."  
"Hurt me? Like hit me?" Carol said quietly, her fingers twirling the hem of her shirt between her fingers nervously.  
"Worse." He said, looking away, not able to bear seeing her pained eyes. There was something about her that struck him as almost painful. It was like she the opposite of him, proper and sensitive to everything around her, and far too trusting for her own good. It almost hurt to be with her, seeing the contrast between them, seeing that he had become the kind of man he had worked so hard not to be. Hard, uncaring, insensitive and ready to beat the shit out of anyone who crossed him.  
"Worse?" Her voice broke, her face flushing as her eyes turned misty. "Like… like… they wanted to…use me?"  
He turned away and gritted his teeth, wondering if she would ever feel safe anymore now, knowing what kind of people were after her. People willing to kidnap, rape and kill a woman for their cause.  
"What did I ever do to these people? Why do they want to kill me so badly?" She whispered, her voice wavering as tears ran down her cheeks. Trevor reached a hand out to her cautiously, not really sure what do to in this situation. He didn't like seeing her sad, he knew that, but he didn't know how to cheer her up again.  
"Hey- how about you tell me about the place you grew up. I told you about mine." He said, desperately trying to change the subject.  
"Alright." Carol said quietly, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I grew up in Lansing. My mother was graduated from school already, but my father was working toward his bachelor's. I was… a mistake. They hadn't planned on having me, and they got married pretty quickly after my mom found out she was pregnant. Either way, I grew up there for the first two years of my life, and then we moved to Detroit. Way back then, that part of Detroit was still a nice suburban town, but then the inner city started… expanding I guess is the best way you can put it. The neighborhood got worse and worse until in high school there were so many drug dealers and stuff that I was starting to watch out for myself wherever I went." She bit her lip nervously, and looked down. "In high school I finally joined the choir. I always loved singing, it seemed like it was the only way for me to feel… whole. Whenever I sing, it feels like some sort of pressure is being released. I probably shouldn't have enjoyed it so much now, when I look back at those times. After the assembly and the guy fell onto the soundboard, I'm not quite sure what happened, maybe he fell into a cord or spilled his coffee or something like that. Either way, he was pronounced dead there, and there was no way to help him. After that, people teased me, saying that I sang so horribly he committed suicide to get away from it." She looked down, her eyes filled with sadness. "It… hurt a lot. After that I quit choir and never sang again. I've only sung once since then, and it was when I was alone in my house with the radio on at full blast to drown myself out. Nothing happened then, but I felt as if I had risked the lives of the people around me, and felt really guilty." She looked up at Trevor, her eyes guilty. "Do you think it's really wrong to want to sing all the time? Even though it hurts people?"  
Trevor looked at her with wide eyes. He hadn't expected the whole history, but now that he heard it, he understood the way she acted a lot better. An uptown girl who ended up in a downtown world, gifted with a curse to forever feel empty and ready to split in half. "No, I don't." He shook his head, unable to look at her wide eyes. "People can be real assholes. They shouldn't have said what they did to you. You didn't deserve it." He scratched at his chin and looked up, looking anywhere but her face. "I think that you should want to sing, and that when the proper time comes, you should sing. You shouldn't hold it back just because you're afraid to make a mistake. If you never buy a ticket, you'll never win the lottery." He said, and looked down in shock when he was knocked to the ground, her arms wrapping around his chest.  
"Thank you so much, Trevor." She said, burying her face in his sweatshirt as she cried. He kept his hands raised and away from her, confused as to how he had gotten into this situation. Why the hell did she hug him? He sighed and lowered his arms, but just kept them at his sides.  
"It's alright, really. No big deal. Just… let go. You're soaking my shirt." He said, trying to make up an excuse. She laughed through her tears and nodded, sitting away from him. She wiped her eyes, and shook her head.  
"I'm usually not this much of a crybaby, you know." She said, blushing slightly in embarrassment.  
"I would have figured that. This is pretty shitty stuff you're going through." Trevor said, his head jerking up in shock when he heard a loud howl come from the forest. "Shit, I almost forgot." He went over to sit in front of Carol, watching the forest carefully. "Carol- I need you to do something for me. Something really big."  
"What?" Carol whispered, wondering why he was so concerned.  
"If Adolph turns on you, I want you to sing. Just- do it. Fuck caring about other people, just sing and run. Care about yourself more. It's okay to be selfish." He stood up as a figure ran through the trees in the distance. Carol stood behind him, and gasped when a large wolf-like creature stood on its hind legs in the distance, large teeth glinting in the moonlight as drool dripped from its muzzle, along with the blood of whatever had been its meal.


	10. Chapter 10

"It's about time you showed up, you fuzzy bastard

"It's about time you showed up, you fuzzy bastard." Trevor yelled, trying to divert the attention of the werewolf to himself. The werewolf let out a loud growl, walking toward them so that Carol could get a full view of it. It wasn't Adolph anymore, she could tell now. Its eyes were pitch black, all pupil instead of the normal golden. Razor sharp teeth protruded from its mouth, and long claws sprouted from human-like hands. Standing on its hind legs, the werewolf was at least four feet taller than Trevor, towering over him. It wore a heavy rope around its neck, gnawed off at the end as if he had been tied to something and had managed to get free.  
"Don't look at me like that, you fucked-up pile of blond mop. You know I hurt to touch, don't you. You remember the last time this happened." Trevor sneered, his eyes narrowed as he let an arch of lightning come between his hands in threat. The werewolf backed up for a minute, and looked at him with narrowed eyes as it growled angrily, and looked at Carol. She gasped and backed up as the werewolf grinned happily at such an easy prey in front of him. He started walking toward her, around Trevor, who stopped him by running in front of her.  
"Don't touch her, you pile of shit, or I'll blast you so hard I'll burn all your shaggy fur off."  
The werewolf let out a loud growl, raising a paw to swipe him aside, despite the threat. He would not let such prey go so easily, no matter the pain along the way- this was a rare opportunity for him, and he would make the best of it. He swatted away Trevor with a swift swing of his clawed paw, despite the blast of pain that ran up his arm and through his body momentarily. The werewolf turned to Carol with gleaming eyes, its mouth open eagerly as she tried to escape by going around the car. He walked after her, knowing all too well that if she started running, there would be nothing stopping him then. Nothing would stop him from devouring her, body and soul.  
"Please, Adolph- don't make me do it." She said, her eyes wide. What was she saying? He didn't care.  
"Carol! DAMN IT, DO IT!" Trevor yelled, trying to knock the werewolf out of the way, but doing nothing.  
"I.. I…" She stammered, trying to look around in panic. Nothing… nothing was around to help her, she had to defend herself with whatever she had, and the only weapon she had was…  
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, letting the notes come directly from her, nothing predetermined, just whatever came into her mind.  
Trevor looked up in shock at the sounds coming from her. At first it sounded like one voice- pure and simple, carrying with it the power of eternity and the promise of emptiness and despair if he went against her wishes. Then a second voice joined in, in perfect harmony with the first, reassuring him and telling him it was alright to disobey the first, meant only for his ears. The werewolf covered its ears in pain, howling and growling as it tried to keep the sound from coming into its head. It fell to its knees, writhing on the ground with wide eyes as Carol looked down at it, tears rolling down her face as her heart broke at the scene. She knew it was Adolph in there, but he was buried beneath this beast. She had to get rid of him. She glanced at Trevor's shocked face as she raised her voice an octave and sang louder than before, bearing down on the werewolf as it screamed in protest and finally remained still. She stopped abruptly, the silence of the night falling down onto the area like a blanket.  
"You… did it." Trevor was still staring at her, his eyes wide. He had never heard anything like that. He knew now that he probably never would again. He walked over to her and saw she was shaking, tears still coming from her eyes as she fell against him, her eyes wide and empty of emotion. He caught her and held her up as he looked down at her in worry.  
"Carol- come on, wake up." He shook her slightly to get her attention, but still she stared straight ahead, her eyes blank. Something was very wrong. "Caroline- wake up, damn you." He growled at her, shaking her harder. "What the hell happened? Why are you like this now?" he looked down as he heard a groan from the werewolf, but now saw Adolph in its place, looking around in confusion and holding his head.  
"Ah, my head. Why does it feel like I was hit by a car again?" he looked up at Trevor, and at Carol. Adolph stood up quickly with a gasp, looking around him in alarm, staring up at the full moon above him.  
"How…?" He looked at Carol's blank expression, and his face collapsed into grief. "No, she didn't… did she?"  
"yeah, she did, you asshole. You went straight for her, tried to fucking eat her. You gave her no other choice. Now she won't wake up." Trevor snapped at him, looking back to Carol as her knees buckled from under her. He leaned down to pick her up in his arms, and glared at Adolph.  
"She knocked your werewolf out. I hope you're happy now. By the way." he looked back at Adolph as he started walking away. "Tying yourself to a fucking tree isn't going to do anything, you dumb-ass." He said, and carried Carol into the clearing by the edge of the forest, where there was more shade. "I.. Don't know what do to. She won't wake up." Trevor said, looking down at her in concern. Adolph walked over and ran a finger along Carol's cheek, smiling softly down to her.  
"You saved me again, kleines. At this rate I'll never be able to repay you." He looked up at Trevor, his eyes filled with guilt. "I'm sure she'll wake up. She is… not used to using her abilities. Perhaps it took to much energy to do so."  
"You'd better fucking be right, for your sake, Adolph." Trevor hissed, and kneeled on the ground, setting her down softly on the grass, and sitting down beside her.  
"Aye, I know. I am the one at fault here. I do not know... what to say." Adolph sat down on the other side of her, looking down at her thoughtfully. "But I have never seen you this angry before."  
"You wanted to fucking EAT her, you bastard! How the hell else am I supposed to feel? I couldn't stop you!"  
"I see. You do not like it that you cannot protect her." Adolph said thoughtfully, and reached down to wipe a lock of mouse-brown hair from her face. "She is pretty when she is asleep, isn't she? Almost like an angel."  
Trevor looked down at her with angry eyes, and he sighed, nodding slightly. Looking at her when she was like that, he couldn't stay angry. "Besides the completely gut wrenching blank stare from her, yeah she looks pretty peaceful to me."  
"You did not swear." Adolph said in shock, looking up at him.  
"What?" Trevor glared at him, prepared to argue.  
"You did not swear. You said a whole, long meaningful sentence without a single swearword. I have never heard that form you before."  
"What the fuck are you talking about? I'm not that bad- damn it." Trevor looked down uneasily, and back up at Adolph. "She asked me why I swore so much. I told her it was because I was from the inner city of Manhattan. It's half true, I suppose." He smirked, but looked down at her and frowned. "I should tell her the real truth though."  
"Ja, you should. She deserves it, now that she has done all of this for us. She has changed both of us so much in such a short amount of time."  
"I haven't changed at all." Trevor looked up defensively.  
Adolph looked up at him and chuckled. "Ja, you have, Trevor. You do not see it yet, but you have."  
"Whatever. So how the hell do we wake her up, or is she just going to lay there like that for the rest of eternity?"  
"I do not know. Perhaps she is like Snow White and needs a kiss from her true love."  
Trevor looked up at Adolph like he'd gone insane. "What the fuck's wrong with you, man?"  
"It was only a thought." Adolph shrugged with a smirk. "I believe she just needs rest. Although it would probably be better if we closed her eyes so they do not dry out so much." He said, reaching out to do so.  
"It still creeps me out that she's stuck like that. Something fucking wrong happened, I just know it. She just fell on me, like she couldn't stand up anymore, and then her knees went out."  
"Perhaps she exerted herself too much? I believe you have the same problem when you have large outbursts of energy."  
"I don't think this is the same. I just collapse, not fall into a coma like this. I wonder if she's thinking anything in there." Trevor looked down at her thoughtfully as Adolph nodded and looked at her as well.


	11. Chapter 11

"You have done well, my child

"_You have done well, my child. I am happy you have finally decided to embrace your gift." A tall woman smiled proudly to Carol, both of them sitting in a small Greek pavilion by a pond. The olive trees around them were heavy with fruit, and eight other women in the distance conversed happily.  
"I didn't embrace it. I had to use it, other wise I would have gotten killed- and I hurt Adolph! What kind of gift hurts people like that?" Carol looked up at the woman, her eyes defiant. The older woman sighed softly, as if she was tired of hearing the same excuse.  
"My dear, you are the first I have chosen for many, many years. The others have their chosen ones embrace their gift happily and use it to their full advantage. I do not see why you don't as well, my little songbird."  
"Because I don't want to hurt people." Carol sighed, looking over at the other woman. She was so much more slender than Carol, with auburn hair that cascaded around her shoulders in waves. Then again, she was a Greek Goddess, and of course they had to look perfect. It still made her feel inferior though.  
"Euterpe, I don't think you understand." Carol sighed. "I love singing- I really do, I just don't like hurting people."  
"I understand my dear. You are a gentle soul who would not want to bring ill onto others." Euterpe put a gentle hand on Carol's head, soothing her. "You only hurt others because they deserve to be hurt. Sometimes in order to help someone for their own good, you need to cause them harm in the first place. It is the way of life, young one." The muse of music and lyric poetry smiled down at her diciple, and looked up at the other muses as they walked toward them.  
"Ah Carol- who are these handsome men you are traveling with?" A voluptuous woman with long wavy raven-black hair smiled slyly down to Carol. "Is one of them your lover?"  
"Calm down, Erato. She is only being protected by these men. They are her guardians, no more and no less." Euterpe looked over at her sister as Erato huffed in frustrated.  
"You never let me have fun anymore, Euterpe. This is my world now- filled with ideas of sex and pleasure. Why do you not embrace the wonderful epiphany that the rest of mankind has discovered? I am sure you would find it enjoyable." Erato smiled to Carol, and walked away to the others.  
"Pay her no heed, my child. Your guardians are worried about you, so you should go back now. But before you leave, I must tell you one thing." Euterpe put a hand on Carol shoulder to make sure she would pay attention.  
"You must never, ever use your gift for an ill purpose. Your song is powerful, filled with all of my eternal life and hope, and that is a very powerful thing to contain. If such a thing is used for an evil purpose, it will only corrupt and destroy you and those you hold dearest." The older woman looked down at Carol as she nodded nervously. Euterpe bit her lip and brought Carol into a tight hug. "I have grown to care for you far too much for my own good, young one. I will speak with you again when the need arises. Until then, take care of yourself, and of the immortal being. He is the last of his kind now, and under Clio and Melpomene's protection. However, those two have never had a charge before, and so may need your help in the future." Euterpe put her hands on either side of Carols face and looked deeply into her eyes. "Protect yourself, my dearest. You will be my last." And with those last words, flung her through the black abyss of space and time back to her body._

Carol took a loud gasp of air, sitting up abruptly and making Trevor and Adolph yell in shock. Trevor looked down at the grass below him and sighed when he saw it was burnt to a crisp. He looked up at Carol with wide eyes, seeing a faint glow around her in the darkness of the night.  
"What the hell happened? You've been in a coma for hours." Trevor said, watching in confusion as the glow quickly faded.  
"I was… talking with someone." Carol said quietly, wondering if they would either believe her, or think her insane.  
"With who, kleines?" Adolph said, scooting back to her side after calming. Carol smiled brightly to him, glad to see he hadn't really been hurt by her.  
"Oh, I was talking with Euterpe." She said, trying to act casual.  
"…Euterpe?" Adolph raised an eyebrow curiously. "Surely you're joking."  
"No, I've talked to her ever since I was a baby. She's the one who taught me how to sing, you know." Carol said, raising her chin stubbornly.  
"Who's Euterpe?" Trevor looked at them in confusion.  
"The Greek Goddess of music and lyric poetry. She is one of the nine muses, daughters of Zeus himself." Adolph explained, and looked back to Carol. "You are under Euterpe's care?"  
Carol nodded slowly, hoping they wouldn't find it too odd. She had thought it was normal for someone to be able to talk with the muses in their dreams, until she had started school. After that she hid the fact from others.  
"Wait- woah, woah woah. Wait a fucking minute. You're guarded by a Goddess?" Trevor looked at Carol with wide eyes and put a hand to his forehead. "Shit, this is deeper than I thought- why the hell are we even here? I don't want some goddess shooting me with lightning or anything."  
"Not that doing that would harm you in any way." Adolph looked at him with a wry grin.  
"That's not the point. She'll fuck me up if Carol gets hurt."  
"Then we will have to make sure she does not get hurt, then." Adolph said firmly, looking down at Trevor with wide, threatening eyes. Trevor froze and nodded, knowing all too well that when Adolph gave that look, it was time to get serious.  
"What did she say to you, kleines? Anything that might aid us?" Adolph turned to Carol, who shook her head with a sigh.  
"She only told me to be careful and not use my powers for evil and stuff like that. She can be pretty dramatic sometimes."  
"We will still keep her warning in mind, just in case." Adolph said, standing up and shaking out his fur slightly from the dew settling over him. "For now, we will sleep for the night. We have a long trip ahead of us, and not much time in which to do it." He said, walking over to the car and getting a blanket out of the trunk.  
"Adolph's scared shitless." Trevor said thoughtfully, looking as the werewolf held the blanket up in front of him, as if trying to guess at how big it was.  
"Why would he be? Euterpe can't come here anyway, it's not like she could actually hurt you guys."  
"It's still pretty fucking scary thinking that a goddess is watching every move I make." Trevor said, looking around cautiously for a minute. "She really can't actually hurt us?"  
"No, not at all. The only ones that could actually hurt you are the major gods, not the minor gods like the muses. They can only put themselves into human bodies for short periods of times. Sort of like a ghost possessing someone."  
"That's not so bad then." Trevor said, relaxing as Adolph walked back to them.  
"Caroline, you may use this blanket. Trevor and I will make due without for now." Adolph handed the blanket to her, sat on the ground. "My werewolf may be knocked out, but the moon still puts me on edge. Forgive me if I seem harsh." he said, and laid down on the wet grass to fall asleep as quickly as possible.  
"I guess I'll get a fire going then. He may not need the warmth, but I know I sure as hell do." Trevor said, and walked into the forest to gather wood. Carol sighed and wrapped the blanket around her, sitting on the ground with a sigh of relief. Things were moving so fast- moving from Michigan to North Carolina, and now heading to Colorado in a car with two older men. She smiled to herself, knowing her father would be shocked to see her doing this, and frowned at the memory. The police had said her parents had died in a car crash, but she wasn't too sure now. Maybe it had been these psycho people who had gotten them killed just to try to get at her. She laid down on the ground and watched Trevor as he put a pile of wood on the grass a ways from her, sending a spark of electricity from his hand to light it. He then went to the other side of the fire and laid down, turning away to get to sleep. She watched the small flames dance in front of her as her eyes started drooping, finally able to fall asleep after such a hectic night.


	12. Chapter 12

"Hey guys" Carol leaned forward from the back seat of the car as Adolph drove the luxury car down the highway toward Colorado "Do you think we could stop at a rock store in Colorado

"Hey guys" Carol leaned forward from the back seat of the car as Adolph drove the luxury car down the highway toward Colorado "Do you think we could stop at a rock store in Colorado?"  
"What the hell for?" Trevor looked at her in confusion.  
"Erato asked me a while back if I could get a stone for her, since she can't actually get it herself. It's called rhodochrosite or something like that. It's pink."  
"Erato wants it? I wonder why." Adolph said thoughtfully, glancing at Carol for only a moment.  
"Who knows? She did me a favor once though, and this will be my favor in return."  
"What favor did she do for you? Isn't she the muse of sex and everything, everything erotic?" Trevor raised his eyebrows in speculation.  
"She only got a guy off my back freshman year of high school." Carol blushed as Trevor's raised eyebrows, wondering what he was guessing. "He was getting weird."  
"So what did Erato do?"  
"I don't know, but whatever happened he came out of the closet about two weeks later." Carol shrugged with a smirk.  
Trevor froze and looked at her with wide eyes. "She made him gay?" He gasped in horror.  
Carol looked at his horrified face and laughed, unable to help herself- his eyes, which were usually narrowed in anger, were now nearly taking up half his face. "No, stupid. You can't 'make' someone gay." She chuckled. "She probably just made him realize his true preference or something."  
"Either way, ja kleines, we will stop at a rock shop so you can get your little pink stone." Adolph said, trying not to laugh himself at Trevor's expression. He looked down and flipped on the station, cheering happily as the song 'Hungry like a wolf' started playing on the oldie's station. Adolph grinned as he tapped his fingers to the beat on the song, singing the chorus when it came up.  
"You are so damn predictable." Trevor rolled his eyes, and Carol laughed again. She moved back and forth with the beat, dancing in the back of the car while giggling. Trevor looked back at her and rolled his eyes again, looking at Adolph again and shaking his head.  
"You two are both fucking crazy. I'm going to lose brain cells traveling with you guys." He said, crossing his arms stubbornly.  
"Oh come on, Trevor- I know you like eighties music- why not join us?" Adolph glanced to Trevor, turning up the volume a bit.  
"Because I'm not a psycho." He said through gritted teeth.  
Carol smiled, reaching over the seat to wrap her arms around his shoulders, leaning her chin against his shoulder. "Aw come on. I can't sing it- you should be happy you can sing it."  
"My singing sounds like shit. It's different when you sing- you sound like a diva." Trevor said, uneasy at the closeness.  
"Do not. Besides- how bad could you be? Everyone can sing, some people are just too judgmental of themselves." She pointed to the radio with one of her hands, the other one dangling from his shoulder. "Sing. Please?"  
Trevor let out a snort of disgust and looked at the radio for a minute before humming quietly.  
"That's not singing you jerk- SING!"  
"FINE!" Trevor yelled, and sang to the chorus as Carol cheered happily. He stopped after the chorus finished and turned around to her, his eyes wide. "See? I sound like fucking shit! Now don't make me sing again!"  
"You sounded fine." Carol waved a hand in dismissal, smiling sweetly.  
Trevor froze and recoiled back, not quite knowing what to make of such a sweet smile all of a sudden. He faced forward in his seat again and slumped down, crossing his arms while glaring at the street ahead of him in anger. Adolph glanced over to him with a wry, knowing smile.

An older man, who had followed Trevor and Carol from the airport was parked in a jeep on the other side of the road from Orsano's headquarters, talking into a cell phone. "Yes, sir- she's gone again. No sir, the phone didn't work, somehow they caught on to it. Veronica thinks that the guy brought her to a house filled with the freaks." The man put his forehead in his hand in frustration. "No, I don't know where she's heading- I only saw them leaving in a yellow car this morning. Yeah, bright banana yellow- you can't miss it. It's even a luxury car. There was a second guy driving them this time." A short silence followed. "I don't know if he's protecting her too. Right- I'll find her and finish this. Don't worry, you've got my word."  
Richard turned off the phone, baring his teeth in hatred at that little bitch for slipping past him like that. He had been so close- so tantalizingly close to finishing that whore off and finally ridding himself of her. He turned the ignition, glancing over at the elderly woman, Veronica, beside him, who pointed forward with a grim expression. He nodded and followed her directions as he tracked Caroline down again. This time he would be sure to kill her.

"I'm thinking that this time we try staying at a hotel. I don't want to sleep in the shit and dirt again." Trevor said, looking around the crowded city they had turned into.  
"Can we get a hotel with a pool?" Carol smiled, looking around eagerly.  
"Why would we do that? We don't have swim suits or anything." Trevor looked back at her.  
"No, but it's summer- I'm sure we could easily find one in a store. I want to swim!" She said, looking out the window happily.  
"Ja, we will find a hotel with a pool, kleines. Just as long as I do not have to swim after dark. I would hate to have to explain how their filter got clogged with wolf hair." Adolph smirked, turning into the driveway of a large hotel complex to see if they had a pool.  
"This isn't vacation, guys. We're trying to find a safe place to lay low for a while." Trevor said, looking at the other two as if they'd gone insane.  
"We can at least enjoy ourselves a little. You're too serious, Trevor. Calm down a little." Carol smiled, handing him a cheeseburger from the package of fast food they had gotten earlier. "Eat a burger and chill. Adolph- do you want another patty? I'll eat the rest of it for you."  
"Danke kleines, I would love one. They are far too small to fill me quickly." Adolph said, taking the offered burger patty eagerly, driving with one hand as he ate. He looked around for a parking spot and found one near the entrance to the hotel, a bellboy who had been smoking outside scurrying inside at the sight of the car. He rushed back out with the manager of the hotel beside him, both standing beside the doorway as Adolph, Trevor and Carol climbed out of the car.  
Adolph smiled at the sight of the manager, knowing all too well the reactions that people made at the sight of his car. He put on an aura of confidence and strode up to the manager, Carol and Trevor walking behind him. "I would like to know if you have a pool here." He said casually, looking at the hotel as if judging whether it was worthy enough of his stay.  
"Ah- yes sir, of course. We have an indoor pool for our guests enjoyment." The manager nodded nervously.  
"Is it filtered properly? I'll not have my hair turning green when I climb out of the water." Adolph frowned. Carol gasped in shock at his rudeness and glanced to Trevor, who was looking very amused.  
"Y-yes sir, I'll personally see to it that the chlorine levels are to your satisfaction."  
"Very good. One more thing, do you think it would be too much trouble for you to find bathing suits for all of us? We seem to have forgotten ours." Adolph said, motioning to Trevor and Carol behind him.  
"Of course sir! Will you be wanting separate rooms, or the same?"  
"The same- the suite, if you please." Adolph nodded in satisfaction.  
"I'll make sure you have it. I will just need your suit sizes and I will have them here for you by lunch." The manager said, and scurried into the hotel as Trevor walked over to the car to get their backpacks, the bellboy taking them instead. When the bellboy had finally run back into the doors to take the bags to their room, Trevor burst out into laughter and Adolph smiled wryly.  
"Man, I've got to hand it to you- you're the only guy I know that can pull off shit like that." Trevor said, patting Adolph on the back and laughing more.  
"But- that was a little rude, don't you think?" Carol said quietly, not wanting to seem outspoken.  
"Yes it was kleines, but what is a little rudeness to having the best room in the building for the same price? Besides, now we can have our suits delivered to us. Problem solved." Adolph said, walking into the building to get the room's key. They walked up to the main desk to the manager on the phone. He looked up and smiled, putting his palm over the phone to talk to them. "What size would you like your suits to be, and what colors?"  
"I will have a large, anything yellow." Adolph said, hoping it would fit.  
"I'll have a medium, blue." Trevor said, wondering if this was a good idea after all. What if they were the wrong size…?  
"And I'll have medium, anything floral. But not too bright. I don't want to look like a lollipop." Carol smiled.  
"I will order sizes of the same style above and below what you said too, just in case." The manager nodded, and Adolph nodded happily at his wise decision.  
"While we wait for those, let's go to our room." Adolph said, holding up the key. Carol nodded and followed Adolph down the hall to the elevator. The doors opened to only three rooms on the floor, the one at the far end of the hall containing the same number that was on their individual keycards. They passed a vending machine and an ice machine on the way, and Adolph put in his key to open the doors to the room.  
Carol gasped in shock at the huge hotel room, not believing the size of the place- she hadn't known that hotel rooms could even be that big! She walked into the room and dashed from room to room to look at things and admire the art on the wall, the magazines on the table and the books on the bookshelf in the corner of the room, and finally sat in one of the blush cream colored chairs sitting in the living room in shock, her eyes wide.  
Adolph laughed and followed her in, picking up a magazine casually and sitting down on the chair beside hers.  
"YES!" Trevor cheered, sliding into the couch in front of the big screen television happily, snatching the remote on the table before anyone else could grab at it.  
"Watch what you'd like Trevor, there's still two hours until lunch, when the manager said our suits would be delivered. Have fun." Adolph said, looking up from his magazine momentarily.


	13. Chapter 13

"No- there's no way I'm coming out

"No- there's no way I'm coming out! Just get me a towel or something. I'm not coming out in this." Carol said from the bathroom as Adolph and Trevor stood outside in swim trunks, waiting for her.  
"They got you the right size, didn't they? Does it fit?" Trevor asked, banging on the door slightly to get her attention.  
"Yeah, it fits…" Carol said uneasily.  
"Then what the hell's the problem? You're the one who wanted to swim so damn much."  
"They got me the wrong kind! I've never worn something like this before!"  
Adolph and Trevor looked at each other in confusion, neither one of them knowing what she was talking about.  
"Whatever. Then just put your shirt over your suit so we can go. I'm sick of waiting." Trevor said, knocking on the bathroom door to hurry her up.  
"Be patient Trevor, she is being shy." Adolph looked over at the other blond, a grin creeping over his face. "You just want to see her in her swimsuit, don't you?"  
"No!" Trevor looked at Adolph with a glare. "I'm just tired of standing here waiting all damn day. This was her idea, now she's the one that doesn't want to go."  
Adolph chuckled and shook his head as the bathroom door opened a crack. "I'm just going to wear the big towel on the way down… I'll get into the water when I get there." She whispered, her cheeks red in a blush. She came out with the large white towel around her, covering all but her long legs as she walked out.  
"As you wish, kleines. Apparently there is only one other couple in the hotel tonight, and it is an elderly couple. We may have the pool to ourselves." Adolph said, opening the door and closing it behind Trevor. They made their way down to the pool, using the keycard to open the large glass door to the empty room.  
"Have fun kids, I'll just relax." Adolph said, sitting on one of the many lounging chairs circling the pool, opening the magazine he had brought with him.  
Trevor looked down at the water nervously, his ice-blue eyes wide and bright as he hesitated. He took first one step onto the stair, and then another, until finally he was sitting on the middle step in the water, refusing to go any further. He looked up at Carol, who was still standing by the edge of the pool, her towel wrapped tightly around her.  
"Come on Carol, the water's fine. It's not filled with sharks or anything." Trevor smirked, but sighed when she still hesitated.  
"Go ahead, kleines. Whatever you are embarrassed about will stay with us two guys. We are the only ones here, and we are your friends. Do not worry." Adolph encouraged, smiling in satisfaction as she loosened the towel a little, and finally let it slide off her, her eyes tightly closed in shame.  
"Holy shit." Trevor's eyes widened at her bikini and he went to the shallow end and dunked his head under the water, realizing he had said that out loud. He surfaced again, his eyes only above the surface of the water as she walked down the stairs quickly to get into the cover of the water. He was not used to this. Strange feelings inside him, watching as she glided through the water effortlessly. He dunked his head underwater again in shame, and swam back to the stairs to sit on them and watch her.  
"What's wrong Trevor? Why aren't you swimming around?" Carol asked, standing up when she came back to the shallow end of the pool.  
"Nothing, I'm just too cold." Trevor said, looking away from her. She tilted her head curiously. She was wearing even less than he was, and she was comfortable in the slightly cool water.  
"He doesn't know how to swim, kleines. He's strictly a city boy. The biggest body of water he's ever swam in is a bathtub." Adolph said. Trevor glared daggers over to him, but lowered his head, shaking it slightly. Adolph was right, and it was pretty pitiful to be as old as he was and still not know how to swim.  
"Is that all? Don't worry Trevor, I can teach you how to swim. It's easy." Carol said happily and dove backwards into the water, coming up on the other side of the pool.  
"You just swing your arms like this." She mimicked swimming in the water, while still above the surface. She used the motion to swim back over to him and sat beside him on the stairs. "See? Now you try. Kick your legs and keep them straight behind you." She said, and poked him in the arm when he hesitated. He let out a long sigh and looked at the other side of the pool, looking back at her nervously when he realized how far away it was, and how deep. Ten feet deep- enough to make him sink and have a hard time getting back up. He finally sucked in a deep breath and scrambled his way to the other side of the pool, using the motions she had showed him. He flinched and gasped for air as his head hit something hard and he surfaced to see that he had not only reached the other side of the wall, but had bumped his head into it. He looked back to see Carol cheering and smiled as he watch her jump slightly and use her legs in a fluid motion to glide over to him under the water. He looked away when he realized he was staring again, looking up as Adolph chuckled.  
"You did it, Trevor! See, it wasn't that hard, now was it?" She smiled, patting his shoulder in congratulations. He smiled back and nodded, but looked up when an elderly woman walked into the room, in casual clothing. So much for having the pool to themselves. He shrugged and looked back at Carol as she twisted around and dove back under the water, surprised at how nimble she was. It was like she felt completely at ease in water, just as she did on land. He held onto the side of the pool desperately as he felt himself start to sink, and pulled himself over to the shallow end, sighing in relief when his feet touched solid floor. A huge amount of water splashed him on the back and he turned around to see Carol smiling at him innocently, her hands formed into a cup above the water to splash him again.  
"You want to play rough, huh?" Trevor said, grinning wildly as he splashed her back.  
The elderly woman sat in the chair next to Adolph, watching the other two people run around the shallow end of the pool, laughing and splashing.  
"I've heard sirens love water, but I didn't think she would love it quite so much." the woman said with a soft smile, looking over as Adolph lowered the magazine, staring at her with hard, golden eyes.  
"Who are you?" He said in a low voice, with a hint of growl.  
"My name is Veronica. I've come to give you a warning." She said, looking back over as Trevor dunked Carol under the water, only to get returned by getting his legs grabbed out from under him.  
"Alright, what's your warning?" Adolph said casually, trying to act as if nothing was wrong so he didn't alarm Carol.  
"There are two separate factions after Caroline." Veronica said, looking back to Adolph. "I managed to get away from the agent watching over me for one of them. I am like you three- born with a special ability to know where any one person in the world is at that given time. I have tried to lead them off track, but I fear they are catching onto me." Veronica shook her head. "You must not let that faction get to her. No matter what. They see her as a threat, something to be destroyed- as are all of those like us, with gifts. The other faction only wants her to use her. The siren has great abilities, more than she even can conceive of. I will work my best to guide them away from her, but my time to help is quickly coming to an end." Veronica looked down sadly at Carol. "She is a gift to the world, and it is unfortunate that she is having such a hard time to even survive. She has the power to change lives with only her words, to change the world with her voice. It is a powerful burden to have on such a young child." She looked back up at him and smiled. "But you know that, don't you werewolf?"  
Adolph stared at her for a minute in shock that she knew he was a werewolf. He didn't really know what to say, but instead turned grim.  
"Yes, the groups know who you are, who Trevor is, and what you both can do. They are prepared to fight you for her, and I fear you two may have a hard time battling them. Do try your best though, that is all I ask of you." She said, and stood to walk out of the room, closing the door behind her softly.  
Carol flinched as another splash crashed into her, but ignored it- instead she was frozen, staring at the woman walking out of the room. "It couldn't be…" She whispered, looking over at Trevor as he stared as well, with a slight frown.  
"It's time to go, you two. We're leaving as soon as possible." Adolph said, standing. Trevor and Carol nodded and quickly got out of the water, drying off and quickly walking back up to the room silently.

"No sir, I'm sorry- you cannot leave the building so soon without forfeiting the payment you put on your room. Is everything not to your satisfaction?" The woman at the main desk said, looking from her computer up to the three.  
"No, everything was fine. Something's just come up." Adolph said, his voice stiff. He hadn't told Trevor and Carol the warning yet, and didn't know if he should.  
"I suggest you just stay the night, sir. It would be cheaper that way." The woman said, raising her eyebrows.  
Adolph looked at the other two behind him, who looked at each other in concern, wondering why Adolph was in such a hurry to leave. "Alright, we'll stay the night. When's the earliest we can leave in the morning?"  
"11 o'clock, sir." The woman said with a relieved smile.  
"Alright, we'll be packed and ready to leave by then. Be prepared for us." Adolph said, and made his way back up to their suite, shutting the door a little harder than needed.  
"What the hell is wrong with you, Adolph? Ever since we went swimming you've acted like you have a burr up your ass." Trevor said, slightly concerned for his friend. He had known Adolph for a couple years now, and had never seen him this upset over something.  
"I'll tell you later. For now, let's just make the best of the night we have here." Adolph sighed, looking around the room. "This is a nice hotel, so let's just enjoy it while we can."  
Carol nodded uneasily, and sat on the couch in front of the television, turning it on to the news. Besides the usual political complaining, one thing struck her as odd. There were a lot of shootings going on right now, all over the country.  
"Why do you watch that shit? It's depressing." Trevor said, sitting down next to her on the couch.  
"I guess because I like to know what's going on around me. So I don't feel left out." Carol said, glancing at his solemn expression. "What's wrong?"  
"I've been meaning to tell you the other half of why I am the way I am, but it's kind of hard for me to say. I'm not used to… expressing myself much." He said, looking away from her nervously.  
"You don't have to say if it you don't want to." Carol said with a soft smile. "I won't mind, if it makes you feel as if you're in pain."  
Trevor shook his head with a heavy sigh. "No, it needs to be said. It's my fault I ended up like this anyway. I just haven't told anyone about this. Besides Orsanos, but he read my mind so that doesn't count."  
Carol nodded silently, wondering if he would continue or not. She looked down nervously at the tension between them, and at his normally calm and collected eyes filled with a storm of emotions.  
"In Manhattan, there are two sides to the city, just like every city in the world. The good side, where crime is minimal and things are peaceful, and the bad side- where gangs roam the streets threatening residents and kids are often swept up in the violence. I'm from the second- and I lived with both my parents at the time." He said, his voice low as the memories started flooding back to him of writing graffiti, hanging with other kids and breaking windows for fun, generally being a miscreant. "My father was a cop, a touch and harsh guy after living so many years defending citizens. I never really talked with him much, he was mean to me at some points, but I knew he cared." Trevor sighed unhappily. "I got caught up in the wrong group, and wound up joining a gang. It was about that time when I found out about my abilities, and they decided to use it to its full advantage." He closed his eyes in pain. "They made me a hitman, telling me that if I didn't do as I was told, they would kill my mother and father while they slept." He looked at Carol uneasily, seeing her shocked expression. "I didn't really know what else I could do, so I just started killing people. I did it quickly, so they would feel it, but it still effected me. I turns out a lot like the one man I didn't want to be like, harsh and unkind to everyone around me."  
Carol stared at him for a minute, her eyes brimming with tears at such a sad story, and even more at his sad expression. He held up a hand to tell her to wait until he finished.  
"At one point I got so fed up with it, that I decided I would quit the gang, and protect my parents from the bastards. But…" Trevor looked up with wide eyes and quickly looked away as they started stinging. "They came one night, with a cattle prod. A few years ago now, but it still feels like it was last week. They… I guess the best I can describe it is that they 'shorted me out'. My powers flung from me, killing them instantly, and… my parents. I stopped their hearts from the electric blast, just like I had done to all those people I had killed." He was silent for a minute as he contained himself and let out a quivering sigh. "I also knocked out about half the nation's electricity doing that. Apparently that same day some squirrel got zapped in Canada by the wire leading to New York, and I zapped the power grid leading from New York to everywhere else. So then I ran off the Colorado, and hid in the mountains for a while before Orsanos came with Adolph to take me to the headquarters. Then on my first mission, I met you and here I am now." He looked up with meek eyes, hoping she wouldn't be too frightened by his dark and violent past.  
"Trevor…" Carol said, her eyes wide as they brimmed with tears. Trevor looked up at her and down nervously, wondering what that expression was for. Carol leaned over to him and wrapped her arms around him as she wept into his shirt, much to his shock. "You poor man, I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that." She said, her grip tight around him.  
He looked down at her, unsure of what to do. Why was she crying? Had he said something to make her sad?  
"Um… thanks?" He said, not knowing what else to do.  
"You should have told me this sooner, Trevor. I thought I had it bad, but I never knew how much you were in pain this whole time. I feel so guilty for complaining like I did." She said, sitting up.  
"Er- no, I didn't mean it like that though. You can complain if you want." He said, trying desperately to get her to stop crying. He didn't like seeing her cry, it made his stomach twist in pain for some reason. "Besides, all my shit is in the past. We're still dealing with yours- complain all you want, really."  
She nodded against his sweatshirt, and he sighed, putting his arms around her as well to comfort her. Something was different now. He didn't know what it was, but he felt a lot more calm, and relieved about something. All of this was really confusing- he had never been around someone like her before, someone who's able to trust and forgive so easily, and smiling at the smallest kindness. The opposite from himself- she was like pure light to him.  
He looked down at her and took his arms away when she sat up and looked at him thoughtfully, then smiling warmly. He smiled back and ruffled her hair playfully. "We should probably get to sleep then, Carol. We'll leave tomorrow and head further into the heartland to get to Colorado. I think you'll like the mountains there." He said, looking over at Adolph who was sitting at a table with a map in front of him, drawing lines on it of where they would go. It was sunset now, and Adolph sat back for a minute as he grew a slight amount of fur on his skin, his face changing shape into his werewolf form, and sat forward to work again when he was finished.  
"Ja, Trevor is right. We should get some sleep so we can be refreshed for tomorrow's journey." He said, and standing from his chair.  
"Where will we sleep?" Carol said with a slight blush, looking around the rooms.  
"You can sleep in the bed, I'll sleep on one of the couches in here, and Adolph can sleep on the couch in the dining room. Problem solved." Trevor said, thankful that there was more than two places for them to sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

Carol stretched in the middle of the night, having been woken up by her stomach rumbling, and the snores of the two other men in the rooms

Carol stretched in the middle of the night, having been woken up by her stomach rumbling, and the snores of the two other men in the rooms. Their snoring hadn't bugged her so much when they had been sleeping outside with the crickets to drown them out, but in the hotel room the constant growling and wheezing were the only noises in the night, and they were loud.  
She sighed and sat up, not able to fall back asleep with her stomach protesting like it was, twisting in knots of pain in demand for food. She remembered the snack machine out in the hall and stood up to go over to her pack and get her wallet. Taking out a couple dollars, she looked over at the two guys as they slept soundly and took her keycard off the table by the bed to go get a midnight snack. She slipped out of the room silently, closing the door softly behind her so she wouldn't wake them. She walked briskly down the hall toward the snack machine, putting the money in and getting a bag of chips, a granola bar and a bag of skittles. She bent over to grab the food and looked up in surprise when a hand covered her mouth and yanked her back up. She looked around in fear for who ever was holding her in their tight, painful grip.  
"I finally found you, you little bitch." A deep voice said happily, his painful grip around her waist making her close her eyes in pain. "I could kill you right now and be done with you, but that wouldn't be any fun, would it?" He chuckled and she felt a sharp jab in her left thigh, and a strange sensation of something being pumped into her blood. She looked back at him with wide, pleading eyes and he threw her to the ground, throwing something else aside as well.  
"Consider yourself lucky tonight, you little whore. I'm going to kill you someday, and it won't be pleasant. But for now, I'll just enjoy watching you suffer." He smiled, his eyes flashing, and walked back down the hall. Carol looked up after him in fear, and ran back to the room, closing the door behind her and panting for breath as she tried to calm herself.  
"Carol? What are you doing?" Trevor leaned up from the couch and looked at her drowsily, his eyes only half opened and his hair a mess.  
"Nothing, just getting a snack. It's alright." She said, not wanting to worry him. She made sure he was looking away before hiking her nightgown up over her hip and looking down at the small hole in her thigh, biting her lip nervously. She hadn't known what the creep had put into her blood, but for now she wouldn't worry about it. She walked back over to the bed, and laid back down in it, curling into a ball as she watched the door carefully to see if anyone else could come in.

Trevor looked up as he heard bangs and rustling near him, looking over to see Carol digging through her backpack for something, throwing its contents around the room as she searched.  
"What the hell are you looking for at this time of the night?" Trevor said, looking at the clock on the wall, which read nearly 2 in the morning. Shit, was he tired.  
"My keycard. I can't find it, and I forgot my snacks. They're out in the hall and I don't want to get locked out." She looked up at him and back down, acting very strangely. Trevor watched her for a minute and sat up, wiping his eyes to wake up more and scratched his bare chest. "Why not use mine? Why do you want snacks so badly?"  
"Not snacks, water. I'm thirsty and I've already drank a gallon of water. Is there pop out there? I hope so." She muttered, continuing to dig through her bag.  
"Alright, you're not making sense now." Trevor walked over to her, wondering if she was sleep walking or something.  
"I'm not? I'm thirsty, it's really hot and I'm tired. I can't get to sleep though, I keep shaking. Maybe it was from earlier? I hope it's not too bad." Carol said, standing up with a horrified gasp. "It's probably from earlier! That jerk- what did he do?"  
Trevor walked over to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, looking at her carefully and backed up a step in horror. Her forehead was broken out in a cold sweat, her pupils dilated and her eyes bloodshot. A flush covered her face and neck and she was looking around with quick, random movements.  
"Carol? What happened? Who did what to you?" Trevor said, grabbing her again and leading her over to the bed to sit her down.  
"The guy in the hall. He said he wanted to see me suffer. I went out to get a snack- so hungry- but he grabbed me and stuck me with something. I don't feel good." Carol said, groaning in pain as her head throbbed. "I think I'm catching the flu or something."  
Trevor looked at her in concern for a minute, knowing all to well that she didn't have the flu. He knew the symptoms of being high when he saw it, and he hoped she wouldn't realize it until later. He looked over to see her keycard lying on the table beside the bed and sighed, taking it and standing up.  
"Stay here, and don't move Carol, I'll be right back with your snacks and I'll get you a pop." Trevor said softly as she looked around with wide, fearful eyes. He stood up and walked out into the hall, looking around for any hint of a struggle and looked solemnly at the syringe lying on the ground next to the snack machine. Trevor got the snacks from the machine's storage bin and got a pop for Carol as well, walking back to the room and hearing lurching as he opened the door. He threw the food and pop on the bed and ran into the bathroom to see her huddled over the toilet, groaning in pain. He held her hair back from her face as she threw up, kneeling down beside her and rubbing her back in comfort.  
"I'm sorry." She said through a raspy throat and whimpered in pain as she threw up again.  
"There's nothing to be sorry about. Just try and relax." Trevor said, looking down at her in concern. This was an extreme reaction to whatever drug had been put into her. From the size of the syringe in the hall there had been a lot of drug pumped into her, too. He looked up at Adolph as the werewolf stood in the doorway, looking at them with a confused and worried expression.  
"Some bastard tagged her in the hall with a syringe." Trevor explained, wiping Carol's hair back from her face again as she retched.  
"I don't think I'm very hungry anymore." Carol whispered, her body shaking from the effort of being sick. She leaned away from the toilet and sobbed quietly against Trevor. "I'm so scared, what's wrong with me? My head hurts, I feel sick and I'm way too hot. My chest hurts, too." She said, huddling in a ball against him.  
"She was injected?" Adolph said solemnly, watching Carol shake uncontrollably.  
"Yeah. I don't know what was put into her though." Trevor said, looking down at her in concern. "Whatever it was, she's having a bad reaction to it."  
Adolph nodded grimly and walked back into the other room, getting a phone book out of the drawer and calling poison control with her symptoms. Maybe they would know.  
"I think I'm okay now." Carol whispered against Trevor's shoulder, her eyes filling with tears from the pain in her chest.  
Trevor nodded and put his arms under her to pick her up and walked her over to the couch, setting her down and sitting next to her. "You'll be fine Carol, I promise." he said, a wave of guilt flooding him that he wasn't able to protect her even when he was in the same room with her. He cursed himself and vowed to watch over her more carefully.  
"You're so nice, Trevor. Thank you." Carol said, leaning against his bare shoulder.  
Trevor make a sarcastic chuckle. "Now you're delirious. I'm anything but nice."  
"No, you're rough, but you're a nice guy deep down." She said, wrapping her arms around his neck.  
"Right. Okay. Whatever you say. I know- let's watch TV to distract you." Trevor said, looking down at her nervously as she moved closer to him.  
"Nope, not gonna work." Carol smiled slyly and looked up at him with warm eyes. He gulped nervously and tried to scoot away from her uneasily, but her grip on him only tightened.  
"What's wrong? Don't you like me?" Carol said, her eyes suddenly filling with pain.  
"N-no, it's not that I don't like you, it's just…" He looked away from her, trying to look for an escape. "I'm really not your type. You're too nice to have someone like me around you."  
"Now, I wouldn't say that." Carol smiled flirtatiously. "I think you're just my type. Tough, protective, and kind." She said, leaning closer to him so that she was pressed against him, his eyes widening in panic. This was getting way out of hand. He looked over at Adolph for help, but he was still on the phone across the room, talking.  
"There you go with that nice shit again. I'm not nice Carol, I'm a cold heartless bastard who-" He grunted in shock as she leaned up and kissed him, moving so that she was sitting on his lap as she smiled down at him. He looked up at her in shock, his cheeks blushed and looked over at Adolph. "I know what drug she's got." He said, his voice slightly husky as he looked back down at Carol.  
She looked around, her eyes concerned as she remembered what had happened. "That guy- he said he was going to kill me." She looked up at Trevor with pleading eyes. "I don't want to die Trevor, I don't know why they want to kill me, but I don't want to die. Especially not the way he said he was going to do it." She looked down sadly and Trevor sighed, not used to these rollercoaster emotions.  
"You won't die, Carol. I won't let them kill you." Trevor said, putting a hand on the back of her head to make her look up at him. "I promise. You won't die. Even if you did, I'd try everything I could to get you back. Somehow." He looked up thoughtfully, wondering how that would work. He shrugged carelessly and looked back down at her as she smiled softly.  
"See? You're nice. Don't try and lie to yourself." She said softly, and leaned against him again in contentment.  
"No, you're just way too trusting and a horrible judge of character." Trevor grinned and wrapped his arms around her protectively, feeling that strange calmness spreading through him again. He looked up as Adolph walked over to them, and smiled down at the sight, his eyes slightly sad. "She has calmed down?"  
"Yeah." Trevor looked down at her and back up at Adolph. "She has ecstasy running through her. That shit can be bad, so I'll watch her."  
Adolph nodded and looked down at his friend. "Be careful Trevor, she strikes me as the kind of woman to be a firecracker when the need arises."  
Trevor smirked and shook his head. "You should know by now I don't like anything calm and perfectly pretty."  
"I am just warning you, mein freund. She is also the type of woman who is hurt easily. She is too sweet for her own good."  
"Now that's what I have trouble with." Trevor sighed as Carol stirred in his arms, snuggling against him. "She fell asleep." he said in amusement.  
Adolph smiled down at Carol and nodded in satisfaction. "It is for the best. That way the drugs can work their way out of her system. We should get back to sleep. There's nothing else we can do for now."  
"I'll sleep with her." Trevor said, looking up with a blush as Adolph raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Not like that, you prick. I'll move the couch over by the bed. I don't want her to go into convulsions and no one hears her until it's too late."  
"Alright. Tomorrow we should ask her what really happened. For now, let her rest." Adolph said, wiping a piece of sweat soaked hair from Carol's face and smiled. "I will tell you both something in the morning as well. Though you may not be very happy with me under these circumstances." He said, and walked back into the other room to fall asleep again.  
Trevor watched him leave curiously, and shrugged. He picked Carol up carefully so he wouldn't wake her and carried her over to the bed, setting her gently on the mattress and pulled the blankets up over her. He took the couch and pulled it over beside the bed so that he could watch her, and sat down on it, looking down at her worried expression. He touched her cheek gently and smiled when she calmed, murmured something and turned so that she was facing him. He laid back down on the couch, glancing over at her one last time before falling asleep himself.


	15. Chapter 15

Carol yawned and opened her eyes, looking over at Trevor as he slept beside her

Carol yawned and opened her eyes, looking over at Trevor as he slept beside her. Her eyes shot wide open and she yelled in surprise, backing up to the far side of the bed and waking Trevor and Adolph with her yell. She calmed, seeing that he wasn't on the bed, but was on the couch next to the bed, and put her head in her hand as it throbbed. "Oh man, my head hurts so much."  
Trevor looked at her in concern and leaned forward to put a hand to her forehead to test for a fever. "Good, you're fine now." He sighed in relief and leaned back again. "Carol- what happened last night? Why did you go out into the hallway alone?"  
"I didn't want to wake you guys up." She said quietly. "And the guy just jumped me when I was getting the chips." She looked at Trevor and blushed, remembering what had happened. "Sorry I kissed you." She whispered, blushing.  
Trevor cleared his throat as he blushed as well. "You don't need to apologize for that, it's okay." He said quietly, smiling reassuringly to her. She looked down with a shy smile and nodded, looking over at Adolph as he walked into the room.  
"You two ready to get breakfast? I'm starving." Adolph looked down at Carol's blushed face and smirked. "You feeling alright today, kleines?"  
"Yeah." She smiled cutely. Trevor stood, looking over to Adolph curiously. "weren't you going to tell us what you found out yesterday too?"  
"Ja. Sit back down, first." Adolph waited until Trevor was sitting back down before continuing. "A woman, from one of the groups after Carol spoke with me."  
"What do you mean 'one of'?" Trevor said, his voice grim.  
"There are two groups after her, one to kill her and one to use her for their purpose. Either way- a woman named Veronica came to me and warned me against the group that wants to kill her is close to tracking her down." Adolph said, his voice filled with guilt. Trevor grinded his teeth, his hands clenched into fists in anger. He stood up and glared at Adolph, walking over to him and swinging a hard punch to the right side of his face, making Adolph back up a few steps from the shock and pain of the hit. Carol gasped in horror as Adolph looked up at Trevor, his golden eyes angry.  
"Why the fuck didn't you tell us sooner? This whole thing might have been avoided- Carol would never have been put through all that!" Trevor yelled, getting ready to punch Adolph again, but his arm was held back as Carol grabbed him.  
"You two were having such a good time I didn't want to ruin it for you." Adolph said, his voice so sarcastically cruel it sounded like acid to Carol's ears.  
Trevor looked at Adolph in surprise, his arm lowering. "That's what you're so angry about?"  
Adolph looked at him with a solemn face, but stayed silent.  
Carol let go of Trevor and backed up from them both, looking down at the floor as she sat back onto the bed. She shook her head and let out a deep sigh. "You guys have to stop fighting. If you're fighting over me, I'll just leave and try to defend myself against these psychos. I'm tired of you always fighting."  
Adolph looked at Carol and down at the ground guiltily, Trevor doing the same.  
"We always fight, kleines. We are of opposite personalities, so it only makes sense."  
"Carol- don't even think about trying to go off on your own. It sounds like these bastards will stop at nothing to get to you." Trevor said, sitting down on the bed beside her and frowning when she recoiled from his touch.  
"If you two are fighting over me, then I just won't do anything else." She whispered with a quivering voice, refusing to look at Trevor's hurt eyes.  
"Kleines- I do not mean to ruin your happiness." Adolph sighed, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "I am just tired of being alone. It is frustrating being single for 160 years."  
Carol looked up but said nothing, instead looking down at her feet silently. Trevor snorted in anger and stood, walking over to his backpack to take out his clothes, then walked over to the bathroom to get changed, slamming the door behind him angrily. Adolph looked up at him and sighed, sitting on the couch in front of her and shaking his head.  
"I do not mean to make everyone angry with each other." He said, looking up at her with guilty eyes. "I just did not want to see you unhappy, kleines. You make Trevor happy, and I have not seen him smile like that in years."  
"You really do care for him, don't you? How long have you guys known each other?" Carol said softly, hoping Trevor wasn't listening.  
"It was my mission to get him from Colorado after he ran there when he killed his parents. He was very depressed, and angry, and nearly killed me on sight when I told him who I was and what I was there for. I finally got through to him, and Orsanos read his mind to find out the rest, helping him to not shun his power and instead to learn to control it better. He has gotten very good with it now."  
"Not good enough, though." Trevor said, coming out of the bathroom. "Sorry I punched you, man. I was just pissed."  
"I know, it is no problem." Adolph nodded, looking at Carol with a smile. "You should get dressed as well kleines, we have another long day ahead of us This time we will get a regular hotel room so that we'll sleep in the same room as you. This kind of thing will not happen again." Adolph said, and stood up to get his own clothes as Carol walked into the bathroom for her turn to change.  
"Do you think she's upset about last night?" Trevor looked over at Adolph.  
Adolph slipped his new shirt over his head and looked over at Trevor thoughtfully. "If she is, she's not showing it at all. Then again, she may be worried about how we'd worry." He shook his head and chuckled. "She's far too sensitive."  
"Tell me about it." Trevor said sarcastically, looking up as Carol came out of the bathroom in a casual t-shirt and comfortable jeans.  
"Ready then? I'm starving." She said, putting her hand on her stomach, but frowned when she remembered last night, and figuring out why she would be so hungry. Trevor smiled in relief, seeing that she was actually concerned about what had happened- it was a step toward accepting the fact that she should be more cautious.  
"Don't worry about it, Carol. We'll watch you closer in the future. Don't run off on your own anymore though, alright?" Trevor said, opening the room door for her politely.  
Carol smiled and nodded enthusiastically, walking down the hall and obviously steering clear of the spot she had gotten attacked the night before. She glanced over at the area and shivered, walking slightly faster toward the elevator. Trevor stood by her on the elevator as Adolph set his and Carol's bags on the ground when the elevator started dropping to the first level.  
"I believe we should eat at the complimentary breakfast before we go- save some of Orsanos' money for when we will really need it." Adolph suggested, walking out when the doors opened again, carrying the bags with him.  
"Save some money? He gave us 5,000 for fuck's sake." Trevor said, looking at Adolph. "We don't need to save money, let's just get the hell out of here before something else happens."  
"I… want… bacon." Adolph said, his eyes getting wide in threat and glowing softly. Trevor stepped back nervously and shook his head.  
"Alright you fucking carnivore- we'll stay for breakfast so you can eat your damn bacon." Trevor said, but smirked.  
"Thank you." Adolph smiled happily, and turned toward the banquet room of the hotel, across from the main desk. Carol chuckled and followed, grabbing a bagel and sitting at one of the small tables to eat it.  
"That's all you're getting?" Trevor said, sitting down with a plate filled with pastries and donuts. Carol looked at his food, and nearly laughed.  
"that's so bad for you- you're going to die eating like that."  
Trevor grinned and sat down across from her. "Hey- I eat this shit all the time, and I'm still thin and healthy. Why stop?" He said, taking a bite out of a frosted donut.  
"You're not going to get the nutrition you need, and you'll die young. At least eat an apple or something." Carol said, splitting open her bagel and spread cheese on it.  
"Do not try to change his mind kleines, he has always eaten like that no matter what anyone tells him."  
Carol looked at Trevor with an 'oh, is that so?' expression and snatched one of his donuts, much to his shock. He made a sound of protest around his pastry as she took a bite out of the bagel and set it down on her plate, reaching over to the counter behind her and putting an apple on his plate.  
"Eat the apple, or I'll take another donut." Carol said with a sly smirk as he stared at her in horror. He made a disgusted face and picked up the apple, taking a reluctant bite out of it and leaning his face on his hand with an annoyed expression as he chewed the fruit with loud crunches.  
Adolph watched and laughed, sitting down at the table by them with a large plate filled with bacon. "You are the only one who can make him do that which he hates, Carol." Adolph chuckled as Trevor blushed and looked at him around another mouthful of apple.  
"Yeah well, there's only a limited number of donuts." Trevor muttered and finished the apple, picking up another pastry.  
Adolph made a small noise of surprise as he looked down at his empty plate, and called Trevor and Carol over. They all looked down at the small Styrofoam plate, which had scratched deeply into it  
'I warned you, leave before 11'  
Adolph looked up at Trevor grimly and nodded, standing and looking at his watch. It was 10:45. He bared his teeth in frustration and walked over to the counter, hoping they would be quick about the checkout process.  
"I told him we shouldn't have stopped for food- he never listens to me." Trevor said, but despite his accusations, was holding three donuts in his hand, munching on another. Carol sighed and rolled her eyes, walking over to Adolph to help with the process before they picked up their backpacks and walked out the door to the yellow car.  
"Wait." Trevor said, putting a hand on the car's hood and nodding, walking to the back, plucking a small device off the exhaust pipe. "I thought so- a tracking device." He said and looked over to the car across from them in the parking lot and walked over to it with a sly grin, sticking it under that car's tailpipe. "That should keep them distracted for a while."  
"Good idea. Right now we're in Nashville, so now we'll head to St. Louis. Hopefully they'll have lost our trail by the time we get there." Adolph said, revving the engine of the car and driving out of the parking lot, merging onto the highway.

"What fuck just happened?" Richard yelled in rage, looking around the parking lot, but seeing his tracking device on the tail pipe of an old Buick instead of the luxury car.  
"The electro kinesis probably found it. I told you he would." Veronica said softly, wary eyes watching Richard as he paced back and forth in thought.  
"Steven will be so pissed. He's going to kill me." Richard said, his eyes filled with wild fear.  
"I told you they would leave earlier. You did not listen to me." She said softly,  
Richard turned angry eyes toward her, and snorted in disgust. "I had my reasons not to."  
"Well now you have more than enough reasons to listen again. Come on, let's get going before they get too far away." Veronica said, getting into the jeep that was parked in Adolph's place. Veronica motioned down the road and to the left onto the highway, hoping that Carol had gotten enough of a head start that they wouldn't catch up to them.


	16. Chapter 16

"What's in St

"What's in St. Louis, anyway?" Carol said, leaning forward between the two seats up front.  
"I don't know, I've never been there." Trevor shrugged, looking over to Adolph.  
"I believe they have a few things we can do, but I suggest we only do one to stay unnoticed for the duration of our stay." Adolph said, looking back to Carol, who sighed and nodded sadly.  
"Do not worry. They have many things to do, we would not be able to get it done in the short time we have anyway." Adolph said, smiling to Carol and turning back to drive.  
"What do they have, anyway?"  
"They have the museum of the dog." Adolph smirked, making Trevor roll his eyes.  
"What else?"  
"They have a wonderful butterfly house I have heard a lot about. How about we go there?"  
"A butterfly house? Like, filled with butterflies? That would be so much fun!" Carol giggled and Trevor sighed, shaking his head.  
"Butterflies? That's boring." He said, looking at Carol with an uneasy expression.  
"There is the Holocaust museum, and the Science center. I would think the holocaust museum while being interesting, would be depressing for the situation we're in." Adolph said thoughtfully. "Don't you think a certain someone needs cheering up?" He raised and eyebrow to Trevor, who glanced at Carol.  
"Fine, froo-froo butterflies and girly flowers it is." He slumped in his seat as Carol cheered happily, wrapping her arms around his chair to hug him happily.  
"I've never seen a butterfly up close before, this will be so cool! We'll go to the butterfly stuff, and then to the hotel, alright?"  
"Agreed. I suggest we not stay much in the hotel until sunset. That way we minimize the risk of encounters."  
"You sound like we're in a war or something." Carol said uneasily, looking over at Adolph. He shrugged and turned his golden eyes to her.  
"It is easier for me to think that way. I have been through several wars trying to protect people." Adolph looked at her for another second before turning back to the road, a frown coming over his face. "You remind me of one of them."  
Trevor looked over at Adolph as an awkward silence settled over them. "A blast from your past? Don't let it bother you so damn much." Trevor said, trying to calm Adolph.  
Adolph smiled sourly, and looked at Carol one last time before focusing on driving. "Although you do not have white hair, and are not a werewolf. The differences end there, however. You have the same personalities." He muttered under his breath, wondering if he should even tell that to Carol. Adolph always tried not to dwell in his violent past, but sometimes the memories sprung up involuntarily to haunt him. "What are the directions to the butterfly house, then? It should be on the map in the seat divider." Adolph pointed to the small box between Trevor and himself, and Trevor nodded quietly and took the map out and looked around him to see where they were.  
"Turn off at the next exit- should be right down the road from there." He said, folding the map back up and setting it back down.  
"So, guys- where's the hotel we're staying at tonight? It's not another fancy one, is it?" Carol said uneasily, wondering if Trevor was right; they should be playing low key to lose the people trying to track her down.  
"It is a small hotel, with no pool. Sorry kleines, but we should not have risked such exposure before." Adolph looked back with a smile, thankful for the subject change.  
"Oh that's fine, wait- wait wait wait! Does that mean we'll be sharing the same room, then?" She squeaked, her eyes wide as she leaned back against the cushion of the back seat.  
Trevor looked back at her with a wry grin. "What? It's not like we'll attack you or anything."  
Carol nodded softly, her cheeks flushed. "I guess I'm just not used to rooming with guys." She said softly, moving around in her seat nervously.  
"We will cross that bridge when it comes." Adolph said, raising an eyebrow to Trevor, who shrugged. "For now, we'll enjoy ourselves in the butterfly building." He said, turning into the parking lot of a large building with a banner over its doors, butterflies littering the decorative tarp.  
"Oh god, this is going to be a girl fest." Trevor groaned as if in pain and sunk in his seat.  
"Quite complaining, you big puppy. Carol will enjoy this." Adolph shook his head, and parked the car.  
"Alright, now the rule for me is- always stop at the gift shop first so you aren't as tempted to buy anything, but you still get to look around." Carol said as she closed the car door behind her, walking enthusiastically up the steps toward the large doors.  
"Not a bad idea." Trevor nodded in approval, walking past her and opening the door to let her through. She smiled happily and walked through, gasping in surprise when she saw a large display of stones at the other side of the store.  
"Rhodochrosite!" she cheered happily, picking up two of the small pink stones- one for Erato, and one for herself.  
"Ah- that is perfect. We will not have to hunt for a rock shop now." Adolph nodded, looking down at the stones in front of Carol curiously. "It's interesting how different stones are, don't you think?" He said, picking up a tiger's eye and admiring the reflecting lights.  
"Yeah, pretty pebbles." Trevor muttered, looking down at the pink stone Carol held in front of her. He had an ominous feeling for some reason, that something he didn't like was going to happen soon. He hated that feeling. He watched as Carol went over to the register and paid for both, then walked back over to Trevor.  
"Hey Trevor- can you hold mine for me? I'm afraid if I get sucked into their world I'll leave mine behind somehow." Carol said, handing him the smaller of the two stones.  
"Sure." He sighed, and stuck the pebble in his jean's pocket. The dreaded feeling grew stronger, and he hurried Carol out of the shop, wanting to get out of that place.  
"What is wrong, mein freund?" Adolph looked at Trevor curiously.  
"Nothing, I just have a bad feeling." Trevor said quietly, so that Carol wouldn't here him as she looked down at the rock in her hand curiously.  
"I don't. Your mind must be playing tricks on you. Everything is fine- we are in a public setting, they would not dare to touch her here." Adolph said back, looking up at Carol and walking her through the large doors into the tropical room beyond, Carol squealing in surprise at the fans above the door whipping her hair around her. Trevor sighed and followed reluctantly.

Carol gasped as she looked around her, thousands of small wings fluttering around her as she spun to get all the sight in. Adolph chuckled and guided her further into the artificial jungle, toward one of the feeding centers in front of him. He looked around him, seeing no one else and smiled softly at Carol's wide, amazed eyes.  
"Trevor- come over here." Adolph called back to Trevor, who was looking around curiously by the doorway. Trevor walked over to the other two, nearly choking when a big blue butterfly tried landing on his nose. Carol giggled at him and looked up at the hundreds of bugs above her.  
"Try singing. Softly." Adolph whispered into her ear as Trevor kept walking toward them. "I think Trevor likes your singing." He smiled and stood back when she looked at him uneasily, and up at the beautiful sight in front of her.  
"Should I? What if something goes wrong?" She said, looking back at him nervously.  
"I will be here, and so will Trevor. Do not worry, kleines. You must trust your abilities." Adolph nodded reassuringly.  
Carol looked back at Trevor for a minute and sighed softly, and raised her hands above her head, letting out a single soft note, which echoed around the room. Trevor's eyes widened at the sound, and he looked at her in surprise, seeing butterflies landing on her hair and arms, wings fluttering softly. She continued her song, sending shivers down his spine as he felt a strange presence around him.  
_Do you love her?_ A sultry voice whispered, and he yelled in surprise as he fell backwards, his eyes open wide and blank as he hit the ground.  
_  
Trevor woke up in a very different place- a bright blue sky above him, perfectly green grass around him, and cobblestones beneath him. He sat up quickly, feeling a burning sensation in his pocket and grabbed the Rhodochrosite out and tossed it aside when it burned his hand. It landed at the feet of a tall woman with black hair, who smiled down at him in satisfaction.  
"My my, she is a lucky girl, isn't she? You're quite a looker." The woman giggled and kneeled next to him.  
"Where the fuck am I?" He growled, looking around him, but seeing nothing recognizable. He was in the middle of a small pavilion of some sort. It looked like a scene out of his mythology book in high school. "Who the hell are you?" he looked at the woman as she smiled warmly, leaning uncomfortably close to him.  
"First, answer my question, my young blond lightning bug." The woman said softly, her long black hair partially falling over her face flirtatiously.  
"What the hell are you talking about? What question?" Trevor said, moving back to make more space between them.  
"Do you love her?"  
"Who?" Trevor said through gritted teeth.  
"Do you love Caroline?" The woman said, smiling knowingly. "I already know the answer, but I need you to say it in order for this to work."  
"Love her?" Trevor said in shock, his cheeks reddening slightly. "I've never loved anyone- besides my mom."  
"Just tell me what you feel about her. I promise I will not tell her. It will be our secret. Tell me, and I will tell you who I am and why I brought you here."  
Trevor gritted his teeth angrily, his blue eyes flashing. "I don't know. I feel something, but I don't know what it is, okay?"  
"You said yourself you've never loved, and a mother's love is far different from another woman's love." The woman smiled warmly down to him. "Poor little man, you are so confused."  
"I'm not little." Trevor growled.  
"You are to me, little human. Just tell me the truth. Is it so hard to say? She is beautiful, isn't she? Caring and far too trusting to be left on her own. She does not know how to hate anyone, which is why you care for her." The woman looked down at the cobblestones, as if watching something in the ground below them. "Am I right, or should I continue? I know all your emotions, Trevor. I will not hesitate to tell them all to you if you are too confused to recognize them properly."  
Trevor stared at her in shock, and shook his head. "No, I'm not the right one for her. She's way too nice to be with a guy like me."  
"A guy like you? One who sacrificed everything he was to save his parents, gave up his sanity to protect those around you that you cared for? What kind of man would you think would be right for her, my dear boy?" The woman leaned into him again, pressing her front against his legs.  
"A guy other than me. Someone who knows how to act around her. I don't know what to say when she smiles at me." Trevor said, trying to scramble backwards away from this strange woman.  
"That is because there are no words for love, Trevor." She smiled, her eyes flashing. "It is something poets have tried to grasp for centuries, but have never completely understood. Think about it- reach deep inside you, and think about how you feel for her."  
Trevor looked t her for a minute and sighed, looking back on his memories of Carol. Laughing, teasing, pure, kind, naïve, innocent, but with a protectiveness that surprised even him. He wanted to be part of that, to be around her for as long as he could manage, and hoped with all that he was that she felt the same. To protect her, to hold her and cherish her.  
"Holy fuck." Trevor said with wide eyes, and looked at the woman in front of him in shock.  
"Now- answer my question once and for all, Trevor. Do you love Carol?"  
"I-I guess I do." Trevor said softly, shocking himself at the revelation.  
"Wonderful. Trevor, my name is Erato. You are now my chosen one, and I request a pact with you. Should you choose to accept, I will bestow on you my powers as a deity to aid you in your quest to defend the siren, and your one true love." Erato smiled slyly and held out a hand to Trevor to seal the deal.  
Trevor stared at her for a moment longer and swallowed a nervous gulp before shaking her hand, feeling some strange sensation of warmth winding up his arm and through his body. He took his hand away and rubbed it thoughtfully, and looked up at Erato.  
"Why did you bring me here? Why did you do all this?" He said as she stood up and smiled warmly down to him.  
"Because Carol is the siren- and you are her song. Protect her, and also yourself my little firefly." Erato said, and pushed Trevor backwards. Trevor yelled in surprise when he fell through the cobblestones below him, hitting something below him with an overwhelming sensation of dizziness._


	17. Chapter 17

"Trevor- Trevor

"Trevor- Trevor! Are you alright?" a woman's worried voice cut through the fuzziness of being flung back through dimensions. Trevor tried opening his eyes, but saw only blurs around him. He groaned, holding his throbbing head with his hand, but felt a soft hand already holding him. He looked up in surprise to see Carol looking down at him with horrified eyes, tears staining her face and Adolph looking down from behind her in concern.  
"Don't cry." he said in a raspy voice, and sat up slowly, letting out a groan of pain. He hissed when he felt something burning on his lower arm and pulled his sweatshirt sleeve to see a small burn mark in the shape of a heart.  
"Aw, fuck." He said, realizing that everything that had just happened was real. He looked up at carol's concerned eyes and sighed. "I'm fine Carol, you don't have to worry."  
"Is it because I sang? Did I knock you out?" She whispered, her voice pained. Trevor's eyes shot up to her and he grabbed one of her wrists to get her attention.  
"No Carol, it wasn't because of your singing. Your singing is perfect- don't think it's a bad thing." he said with a serious expression, and backed up uneasily when she sniffed from crying and looked down nervously.  
"Then what happened?" She whispered.  
Trevor sighed and reached into his pockets, letting out a deeper sigh when he realized the Rhodochrosite was gone. "Let's just say someone you know dragged me over for a little chat." He looked up at Carol, who's eyes widened.  
"Who? What?" She asked, not confused. Trevor blushed and muttered profanities in frustration as he raised the sleeve of his sweatshirt again, showing her the heart burn on his arm.  
"Oh- no way! She called on you?" Adolph laughed as he saw the mark, but tried to hold back the outburst when Trevor shot him a hard glare.  
"Erato called you? Does that mean she got her stone?" Carol said. "I guess she didn't want the one I had, so she had to bring you there."  
Trevor looked down at her in shock, wondering if she was just trying to be funny, or if she was really that naïve.  
"Sure, we'll go with that." He said, looking around nervously. He looked up as another butterfly landed on Carol's hair and smiled warmly, a strange sinking sensation overwhelming him. He looked away quickly, trying to distract himself from her.  
"Sir- are you alright? Should I call a doctor over?" A woman with a uniform on walked over to the group in concern, hoping there would be no trouble.  
"No, no doctors. I'm fine, I just got dizzy suddenly. No need to worry." Trevor said, and stood up slowly, his legs aching. The uniformed woman nodded uneasily and walked off to attend to the plants around her.  
"Does it always feel like this when they call you?" He said with another groan.  
"Only the first few times." Carol smiled, glad Trevor was alright. "So what did Erato say to you? She hasn't had a chosen one in centuries." Carol asked curiously, her head tilting.  
Trevor looked at her with wide eyes and cleared his throat, looking toward the ground nervously. "She just wanted to talk about how important protecting you is. I already knew that though."  
Carol looked at him curiously at his odd reaction but shrugged. Erato was always saying embarrassing things, so she had probably talked to him about something he wouldn't want to repeat. "She thought you were cute, didn't she?" Carol smirked wryly.  
Trevor looked up at her in surprise and blushed slightly.  
"I thought so." Carol giggled. "She likes blondies."  
Trevor rolled his eyes and sighed. "She's insane- she kept calling me her 'firefly'." He said, shaking his head in disbelief. "Besides, I'm not cute."  
Carol smiled and poked him in the nose. "Maybe not in your eyes, but to girls you sure as heck are. Though I wouldn't say 'cute' is the right word for how you look. More like handsome. Girly guys are cute." Carol smirked and turned around to walk back over to the feeding post for the butterflies.  
Trevor stared after her, his eyes wide. She thought he was handsome? He had never thought he had looked any better than any other guy, and his constant frown usually scared people away pretty quickly.  
"Don't look so shocked, Mein Freund." Adolph laughed, patting Trevor on the back to knock him out of his state of shock. "I don't know why you didn't think she would say these things, she said she liked you just the other night."  
"She was high- that doesn't count." Trevor mumbled, but looked around thoughtfully. Did she really? How should he act around her now? He groaned in frustration and sagged slightly. "I have no idea how to do all this. I've never tried this shit before."  
"What, flirting?" Adolph grinned, his fangs flashing. "It's not that hard. I could teach you some tricks, if you'd like."  
"I don't want to learn any of your 'tricks', Adolph. I'd end up as much of a hopeless womanizer as you are."  
"Now now, that's not very nice, Trevor." Adolph frowned. "I am no womanizer, I just love the female gender in general. All women are beautiful creatures, I do not understand men who do not think so as well."  
Trevor rolled his eyes in exasperation and walked over to Carol. "We should probably get back to the hotel soon. It's starting to get kind of late." He said softly to her, noticing that for some reason she looked different to him now, like she was even more beautiful than before. He shook his head in anger at himself for thinking something like that and looked down at her curiously when she didn't respond. She was looking down at a small butterfly newly out of its cocoon, and fluttering on the ground, unable to fly yet because of its still slightly folded wings. Carol leaned down and let it crawl into her hand carefully, and brought it up to Trevor, holding in front of him.  
"Put out your hand." She smiled, and let the butterfly crawl into his palm and settle there, folding its wings in and out as they dried enough for flying. Trevor watched the insect for a minute uneasily, and looked up to Carol, as if asking what he should do.  
"To me, butterflies represent life." She said softly, taking his over hand and putting it next to the other so that the butterfly had more space. "It's beautiful and short lived, but as long as it's cherished, you can fully realize the wonder of its complexity and marvel at the miracle that it even exists." She smiled softly, her eyes looking down at the butterfly as her hair fell partially over her cheek. "I made a choice when I was very young that I would try to live life to the fullest, and never take it for granted. Too many people around me suffered because they let life speed by them without realizing the opportunities. My mother, my father, and my younger brother." Her eyes flashed at the mention of her brother and she closed her eyes in pain from the memory. "Just because people are after me now to kill me, doesn't mean that won't stop." She opened her eyes, and smiled happily when the butterfly finally opened its dry wings and flew away. She giggled as it flew past her and watched it as it fluttered upwards.  
Trevor stared at her with wide eyes, his heart pounding in his chest for some reason. Her hair was wild around her face, and her words still rang in his head. He had always wished he could think like that, to be so innocent and kind to believe what she thought. He reached out and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him. He never wanted her to loose her kindness, never have to make her be subjected to the cruelties of reality. He felt her move in his embrace and blushed, looking down at her, his mind suddenly cleared from all hesitation.  
"I want you to always be who you are. No matter what happens to us, please- please stay as gentle as you are now." He whispered and leaned down to kiss her gently. Her eyes shot open in shock, but she relaxed against him and allowed him to tighten his grip on her. He finally leaned away and blinked a few times in surprise. He realized the situation he was in and made a strange high pitched noise of surprise and stepped away from her, touching his mouth thoughtfully.  
"T-Trevor?" Carol asked curiously blushed, looking down uneasily at his sudden reaction. Trevor opened his mouth to say something, but decided not to and closed it again, glancing to Adolph for support.  
"You two are much too shy around each other. Why do you not both realize you love each other?" Adolph rolled his eyes with a sigh.  
"He doesn't-"  
"She doesn't-"  
Carol and Trevor both looked at each other in surprise as they started a sentence in unison to deny Adolph. Adolph just laughed and shook his head, walking further into the jungle.  
"You guys sort things out. Don't take too long though, we should get heading back to the hotel soon." He said and strode off.  
Trevor glanced at Carol nervously, clearing his throat slightly to break the silence between them.  
"What do you mean, stay who I am? How could I not be me?" Carol said in confusion, blushing when she remembered the soft kiss that had followed the sentence.  
"I just don't want you be become a hardened bastard like me." Trevor said, his flashing blue eyes watching her warily. "Life is a bitch, and I don't want you to be too scarred by your experiences into being a cruel person."  
Carol smiled sadly, and shook her head. "I doubt it could get much worse than it already has."  
Trevor raised an eyebrow and shook his head. She had to be really sheltered to think that, or else she was hiding something from him. "Oh? Worse than what?" he said cautiously.  
Carol looked up at him with pained eyes, which made him suddenly want to pull her to him again. Trevor looked down nervously to distract himself from the urge and focus on her words.  
"A lot happened when I was in middle school. A lot of shit happened that made me the way I am." She said softly, shocking Trevor with her swearing. He looked down at her in concern as she hung her head, her hair hiding her expression from him.  
"What happened, Carol?" He asked, moving her hair behind her ear so that she could see her face, but was surprised to see her eyes misty from tears. This time he couldn't resist the urge any more, and pulled her toward him again, holding her closely to his chest for comfort. "You can tell me what happened."  
Carol buried her face in the shoulder of Trevor's blue sweatshirt and calmed a little. "My brother… he got really sick. We tried to help him, but…" She whispered, and shook her head, gripping the back of his sweatshirt tightly for support. Trevor looked down at her in concern and sighed, resting his cheek on the top of her head.  
"I'm sorry. That must have been hard for you. I'm an only child, so I can only imagine what it must have felt like." He whispered softly, trying to calm her. He hated to see her so sad.  
"That's not the only thing either, but I'm not sure if I should tell you the rest." She looked up at him, her eyes slightly swollen from her years. "You might look at me differently, and you might not like what I say. I don't want you to shun me or anything."  
Trevor looked down at her with furrowed eyebrows. "I couldn't shun you even if I wanted to, Carol." He realized what his sentence hinted at and blushed slightly, looking away. "Don't worry about it. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'm not forcing you to."  
Carol nodded and let out a shaky sigh. "I just… I need someone to know. I've never told anyone before." She whispered, and shook her head when she noticed Adolph had started walking back. "I'll tell you later tonight. Adolph, if he hears this, will only get angry and go on some sort of hunt or something."  
Trevor looked down at Carol in confusion, but nodded and let go when she stepped away from him.  
"Ready to go, Adolph?" She smiled brightly, obviously acting overly happy.  
Trevor looked at her in concern, realizing that she must act like this all the time, and that he had just gotten a taste of the real her while she was in his arms. He gritted his teeth angrily at whatever else might have made her so depressed.  
Adolph looked at Carol's swollen eyes and looked at Trevor with an eyebrow raised curiously. Trevor shook his head and smiled warmly, looking down. Adolph smiled as well, having never seen an expression like that on Trevor before.  
"Alright Carol- let's move on out. Back to the hotel so that we can rest for the night and be up and moving again tomorrow. It won't take us much longer to get to Colorado now." Adolph said, walking over to Carol, putting an arm around her shoulders to lead her out the door.


	18. Chapter 18

Carol stayed silent as she unpacked her bag on the other side of the small motel room from the two men

Carol stayed silent as she unpacked her bag on the other side of the small motel room from the two men. She was nervous about telling her past to Trevor. She had grown to like him a lot, and was afraid that if he knew…  
What if he got disgusted and shunned her? What if he refused to travel with them anymore? Carol bit her lip nervously and kept taking things out and sorting them in the corner to get to her clothes. She wasn't sure whether she should tell Adolph or not either. He was more like an older brother to her than a romantic relationship like Trevor was. Knowing about his wolf-like tendencies he might get really angry and go on a hunt of some sort for that guy. She closed her eyes and cringed at the memory of the man's face, but shook her head to rid herself of that fear. She had realized long ago that he would never find her again, and that she would never have to see him again, so why was she still afraid?  
"Hey- are you alright?"  
Carol looked up in surprise as Trevor kneeled next to her, his expression one of concern. She nodded and sighed softly. "I'm just nervous. I'm fine." She whispered and looked up at him meekly. "I don't want you to act differently around me."  
Trevor sighed in frustration. "I already told you, I won't." he said, and leaned back to give her more space. He was starting to worry about what such a big fuss was about. What had happened that had her so worried he would treat her differently?  
"Do you not want me to hear, kleines? I can go into the hall for a while and get a snack. I don't think anyone will be out there." Adolph said, looking toward the door. He had already transformed for the night, his face covered in a soft down of golden fur.  
Carol bit her lip nervously. "As long as you don't go crazy and hunt the person down, you can."  
Adolph looked at her in confusion and nodded cautiously.  
Trevor looked at Carol thoughtfully, trying to search for any hint of what she was about to tell him. What the hell had happened?  
_Listen to her words carefully. This is a very sensitive time for her. You are the first she has told this too- she did not even tell her own parents before they died. _Trevor heard Erato's smooth voice echo through his mind, and nodded silently in answer.  
Did Erato know what had happened? How had she found out?  
_Silly man. I know all that has happened to both you and Carol. Protect her, she is a frail woman, and you will now know the reason why._  
Trevor touched Carol's arm softly, needing to know what had happened now. Something had made her scared, and he needed to know what it was so that he could protect her from it. He felt the need of keeping her safe raise in him sharply as he guided her over to the room's single bed softly.  
"Carol, whatever the hell happened, you're fine now. I'm here, Adolph's here, and we would never let anything bad happen to you as long as we are able to stop it." He said seriously, looking straight into her deep blue eyes.  
"Aye Carol, whatever it is, we will help you overcome it." Adolph nodded in agreement and sat on the other side of her on the bed.  
Carol smiled softly, and looked at both of the men thoughtfully. "You guys rock, you know that?" She said, her eyes burning with tears as she laughed softly. Adolph and Trevor both smiled back, and looked at each uneasily other over her head.  
"Alright, I'll tell you both. Just promise not to freak out too much, please." She said sadly, and looked down nervously. Adolph and Trevor both nodded, Trevor touching her wrist for comfort.  
"Okay." She said, and took a deep breath as she gathered her courage. "I've never told anyone this. Not even my parents, or my best friend." She bit her lip, but continued. "The same year that my brother died of pneumonia, another thing happened that… hurt me, I guess you could say. I was walking home from school one day, and I stopped at the store to pick up some bread for the house, since mom had asked me to before I left that morning. It was no big deal, I did that all the time when I was younger. This time though, I guess some guy followed me. I came out of the store, and my arm was tugged into some alley along the street. He was so scary, so huge, I knew I couldn't fight him." She closed her eyes in pain, but opened them again and glanced to Trevor uneasily. "He.. Um… Well, he did some stuff. I was too young though, so there wasn't any consequence other than a lot of pain, but it was still terrifying." She whispered. "I was hurt, and scared. I told my mom I got mugged and that was it, but it had been more than that. I felt like I was dirty, like I had asked for something like that to happen walking alone like that." She quickly turned away from Trevor, only to turn toward Adolph. "I felt like I was ruined or something, like I was 'damaged' somehow and no one would want me again."  
Adolph sighed and moved her hair from her face as she cried softly. "It was not your fault, kleines. Far too many nice girls like you are treated cruelly."  
"Carol…" Trevor said, looking at her for a minute before grabbing her gently and pulling her toward him. He turned her around in his arms so that she was forced to look up at him. "I don't think you're ruined, or anything like that. It wasn't your fault something like that happened. Don't think you're unworthy of someone's attention or anything like that." he said gently, and buried his face in her long brown hair as she cried into his shoulder. "Shit, you've been through a lot more than I thought. I don't know how you can keep smiling like you always do." He said, and leaned away so that he could wipe away the tears running down her face. "See? I'm not freaking out, am I? You're fine, and you got all worried about nothing." He smiled, and kept his arms around her as she laughed awkwardly.  
"I do that a lot. I worry a lot, I can't help it." She said, and sighed softly. "I just like seeing other people happy. It makes me happy."  
Trevor looked down at her thoughtfully and put a palm to her cheek, his thumb brushing another tear from her eye. "You're a pretty tough little woman, aren't you?" He grinned. "Always caring for others as much as you do."  
Carol blushed and looked down shyly. "I don't think 'tough' is the right word for it, but I guess so." She smiled softly.  
"I think it's time for bed, then kleines. We've been through a lot today." Adolph said, ruffling her hair playfully. "You sleep on the bed, both of us will sleep on the floor."  
Carol nodded and went to change into her pajamas in the bathroom while Adolph and Trevor just took their shirts off to sleep.  
"I did not know she would be so strong." Adolph said thoughtfully, and Trevor nodded.  
"She's been through even more than I have." Trevor said, looking around uneasily as he realized how different they had reacted to the events. Trevor had turned in a sour bastard and Carol had grown into a kind and gentle woman. "I really fucked myself up compared to how she turned out."  
"No, you just have rough edges to your personality, mein freund. You are still as kind as she is, and far more protective than you realize." Adolph said, and crossed his arms behind his head, purposefully growing more fur on his lower arm for more cushion for his head.  
Trevor rolled his eyes, not convinced at all. He looked up as Carol came back out of the bathroom in her plaid pajamas and smirked wryly when she stepped over him to get into the bed.  
"Good night, you two." She said, and looked over the edge at Trevor. "And thank you." She said, smiling sweetly down to him. Trevor grinned back up.  
"No problem, Carol." He said, and closed his eyes to sleep.

The room was dark and silent, except for the two men's loud snores, one of them tainted with an edge of growl. He really hated doing things like this, but Steven had to be right about this woman. Hunter reached for the gun in his belt as he opened the door wider and slowly crept into the room.  
"Hurry up." Richard whispered behind him, making Hunter look back at him in anger at making the slightest amount of noise. Hunter froze in his tracks as the nearest man on the ground stirred , his skin looking a strange yellow-ish hue in the darkness. Once he was sure that the man was still asleep, he walked further into the room and looked down at the woman in the bed. She was beautiful, but still looked innocent for all that she was going through. Hunter bared his teeth in anger at the fact that she had to hurt her, but knew there was no other way. He moved his long black hair out of his eyes and looked at the two men on either side of the bed.  
"Don't touch her." A deep voice said from one side of the bed, making both Richard and Hunter jump in shock. Adolph sat up, his fangs bared angrily at both of them. "Touch her, and I'll tear your throat out. And not with my hands, either." Adolph grinned, his yellow eyes flashing as he stared at the two men threateningly, his skin sprouting more fur than before as he changed into his wolf form quickly, letting out a loud bark to wake the other two up.

"What the fuck?!" Trevor sat up quickly, the air around him charged with electricity in his shock, a tendril reaching Richard's foot and turning it numb.  
"Get her you asshole, don't let her get away!" Richard yelled, and faced Trevor.  
"What's going on?" Carol looked around in confusion at the strange men around her and saw Richard, her eyes widening in horror. "It's the man from the hall! Oh God!" She scooted to the back of the bed, frantically trying to get away. A golden wolf jumped up onto the bed in front of Carol, surprising her. Was that Adolph? He hadn't told her he could turn completely into a wolf. Adolph let out a fierce growl at Hunter, who backed up a step in fear.  
"Come on, I don't want to hurt anyone." Hunter said, his voice shaking. Adolph snorted in disbelief and jumped onto the man, his jaws wide open to tear flesh.

"What the fuck are you doing in here? Are you the one that attacked Carol?" Trevor snapped, standing up quickly as Richard stepped toward him, dragging his back foot.  
"Damn right I am, you little bastard. She's going to die, and there's nothing you can do to stop it." Richard sneered, making Trevor yell out in anger and rush toward him, his hands wide and sparking.

"Die? She's not supposed to die! Steven wants her alive!" Hunter said, hearing Richard's sentence while throwing the wolf off of him. "Why do you want to kill her?"  
"She and I go way back." Richard grinned wildly, looking at Carol with greedy eyes. Trevor growled in anger and wrapped his hands around the larger man's neck.  
"You touch her, and I'll boil your fucking brain inside you skull." Trevor said, his ice blue eyes wide and glazed over as his thoughts of mercy were wiped from his mind in the heat of the moment.

Adolph looked over at Trevor and realized the trouble he was in as Richard pulled out a pistol. Adolph looked back at his own enemy and growled again, jumping straight at his throat. Hunter yelled in fear and brought up his gun, a loud fire sounding in the small room, followed by Carol's scream of horror. Adolph fell against Hunter from the momentum of his jump, his eyes wide and blank as the shot to his chest bled a deadly red into his golden fur.  
"Adolph, oh no!" Carol jumped off the bed and over to the wolf, glaring up at Hunter, who stepped back in horror, the gun dropping from his hands.  
"Fuck!" Trevor yelled and glanced over at Adolph in horror. Richard took the opportunity and slammed the butt of his gun hard against Trevor's head, knocking him out and watching as the collapsed to the floor.  
"You got the bastard, Hunter." Richard said happily, walking over to nudge Adolph's limp paw with his boot. "Now get the girl, and we'll go."  
Hunter looked down at Carol in apology and grabbed her wrist, and reached out to hold Richard's as well, vanishing from the room with a small sucking sound as air rushed into the empty space where they had been.


	19. Chapter 19

"Knock her out with this

"Knock her out with this." Richard handed Hunter a small syringe, and climbed into the driver's seat of the car, Veronica in the back of the car, looking at Carol nervously out the window. Hunter looked down at the angry woman in his arms, who was trying her best to hit him hard enough to make him let her go.  
"I'm sorry songbird, may the Hunkpapa ancestors forgive me." He whispered, closing his eyes as if in prayer for a moment, before putting the needle into Carol and forcing its contents into her.  
"Who are…?" Carol asked Hunter softly as her eyes drooped and she fell limply into his arms. Hunter looked down at her for a moment before putting her in the back seat next to Veronica and getting into the front beside Richard.  
"Don't give me any of that Indian crap again, Hunter. You're with us now." Richard turned to Hunter with a wry smirk. "you have no idea who you just killed do you?"  
"I do." Hunter said, looking out the window in disgrace. "I killed the most cunning wolf in the world, using a gun." He sighed sadly. "Wolves are great warriors, and I am a coward."  
"Great warriors, my ass. He got shot in the chest trying to jump at you. He fully exposed himself." Richard snorted, and drove the car down the street toward Steven's 'house'.

Carol looked up at the blurry room around her, the metal walls glinting in the soft light around her. Where was she?  
As her vision focused more, she realized she was laying on a floor completely covered with blankets and plush pillows, in varying shades of red, purple and pink. She sat up quickly and looked around in confusion.  
"Ah, you're awake. I was starting to worry." A woman's voice sounded from behind her, making Carol turn around quickly in fear.  
"I'm not going to hurt you, little girl. Don't worry about that." The woman said, sitting up from the darkness of the corner to reveal herself. She had dark cinnamon colored skin, long black hair with yellow streaks running through it, and bright yellow eyes. "What are you in for?" She smiled, crawling gracefully over the pillows and sitting next to Carol.  
Carol looked at her for a minute, trying to think of what struck her about this strange woman. She was drop dead gorgeous, slim and stealthy with long legs and a perfect figure. Her slightly curly black hair framed her face and those strange yellow streaks only amplifying her bright yellow eyes… wait…  
Yellow eyes?  
"You have strange eyes." Carol said curiously, making the woman chuckle in amusement.  
"Well hello to you too, deary. Yes, I have weird peepers, don't I? It's for a reason, trust me. If I told you, you wouldn't believe me though." The woman said with a sultry smile, reminding Carol a lot of Erato.  
"Alright." Carol said softly, curling her legs against her and wrapping her arms around them nervously. "Where are we, anyway?"  
" I knew you would ask that. We're in the mansion of Steven Comeranos. He's a guy you don't want to mess with. He thinks he knows the solution to all the world's problems." the woman rolled her eyes and sighed.  
"What? How does he figure that?" Carol said in confusion.  
"He thinks that if he gets everyone with abilities like you and I to make our own society that are 'worthy enough' to be there, all troubles will go away. Quite a nut job, huh?" the woman laughed.  
"Dang, I guess so." Carol said, wondering how anyone would conceive that just because people have special abilities that problems would go away. "Anyway, I'm Carol. I'm a singer." Carol said, sitting up normally and holding out a hand for the woman to shake.  
"I'm Dela. The rest will come with time. I'll just say that I'm a professional fighter." Dela said, shaking Carol's hand in a strong grip and letting go.  
Carol smiled, realizing what had struck her about this woman- she reminded her a lot of Adolph. Carol looked down sadly as she remembered that Adolph had gotten shot in the chest, his eyes wide open and blank in a death gaze.  
"What's the problem, chickadee? You look sad." Dela leaned down, trying to see Carol's expression.  
"Oh… when they kidnapped me to come here, they shot my friend. I'm hoping he's still alive, but I'm afraid he's not." Carol said softly, her eyes burning with tears. "He was such a good friend, almost like a brother to me. I don't want to lose him."  
"Sounds like a nice guy. I'm sure he'll be fine, hon." Dela said, and carefully wrapped an arm around Carol's shoulders in comfort. "Nice P.J.'s, by the way." She smirked.  
Carol giggled and nodded, wondering what would happen to her. "So this Steven guy wants us to go into his society?"  
"Oh no, we're special." Dela said sarcastically. "We get to be his wives." she said with mock eagerness.  
"WHAT?!" Carol stood, her face flushed. "No fucking way!"  
Dela laughed and nodded. "Don't you worry about that, chickadee. I won't let him marry either of us. I'm not one to like being trapped in a cage of a house anywhere, none the less with a twit like him."  
"So he wants us to marry him? Why the hell does he want me?"  
"From what I've heard, you've got quite a useful talent in you." Dela smiled. "You sing and control people? Very nice."  
Carol blushed and shrugged. "It hasn't been very helpful so far. I've killed a guy with it, and I had to knock out my good friend when he went crazy."  
Dela smiled. "Trust me, at first I didn't think my ability would be too useful either, but it's turned out to be quite nice in a pinch. I could tell you what it is, but it'll have to be later."  
"Later? Why?" Carol looked at Dela curiously.  
"Because Steven's coming down the hall. I can hear him." Dela said, scooting away from Carol while watching the door warily.  
Carol looked up in surprise as the metal door leading into the room slammed open and a tall man looked in, smiling happily down at her.  
"Hello my lovely Caroline, I'm happy to meet you at last." He said, walking in and leaning down to smile at her. "You will be a good girl for me, won't you?" He said, and grabbed the sleeve of her shirt as the other man who had come in with him walked back out, closing the door behind him. Carol yelled in fear as Steven dragged her up to his face and licked her cheek with a happy gasp. "Now don't struggle my pretty little girl, or I'll have to hurt you. You must learn your place."  
"Go to hell." Carol hissed, kicking him in the shin.  
Steven smiled down at her and shook his head, throwing her back down to the pillows and blankets on the floor. "Now now my dear, you mustn't think such violent thoughts. I already thought of the fact you would try to kick me there." He looked down at Carol's shocked face and laughed in amusement. "What, you didn't know? I can read your mind, girl. There's nothing you can't hide from me. Now be good." He smiled, and dragged her back to him.

Trevor groaned in pain and sat up slowly, his mind reeling in pain from the impact of Richard's gun against his skull. He remembered what had happened and stood quickly, only to fall against the bed as he got dizzy. He looked around to see Adolph groaning in pain in his human form, this chest a bloody mess. Trevor scrambled over the bed to him and looked at the wound grimly. It didn't look good.  
"Do not be so worried, mein freund. I have had much worse than this." Adolph grinned and reached into the hole with his fingers, cringing in pain as he dug to find the bullet. He gasped in relief as he pulled it out, closing his eyes as the pain disappeared and the flesh grew back over the hole as it healed. "There." Adolph looked down at his chest, touching the spot softly in experiment.  
Trevor sagged with relief that Adolph was still alright and looked around the room again. "Where's Carol?"  
"I thought you protected her from them. I was kind of occupied." Adolph said, his eyes widening. "Scheiße, they must have taken her."  
Trevor looked around the room in horror, opening the doors, hoping that she had hidden from them. "FUCK- she's gone!" Trevor said, falling to his knees in despair. "What the hell do we do now?" He whispered, his chest twisting in pain.  
"We find her. There must be a way to find her." Adolph said, standing and looking down at the blood on the ground. "I believe we should get out of the hotel quickly before a maid comes. I will leave the money for the room on the table." Adolph said, taking the money out of his pocket and setting it down.  
"How do we even know where the hell she is?" Trevor said, sitting on the bed and putting his head in his hands sadly.  
_Follow her song. I know you can hear it. _Erato whispered in Trevor's mind. He looked up in confusion.  
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" He said angrily, looking up. Adolph looked at him in shock, wondering if Trevor had finally gone insane.  
_Don't get that tone with me, boy. Listen. Clear your chaotic mind and listen just for a moment._  
Trevor hesitated before closing his eyes, trying not to think of how he failed to protect Carol again, how he had been terrified at the sight of Adolph being shot, and focused on clearing his thoughts.  
At first it was only his own mind buzzing with emotions, but soon a small note broke into his thoughts, followed by another and another, and finally a chorus of tones playing a symphony of fear and despair.  
You will find her in the west. That is all I can tell you, I am sorry. Eutwerpe is counting on you, my little firefly. Please protect her. Also- tell your friend not to play with a cat's emotions.  
Trevor looked at Adolph curiously and shrugged. "Erato says not to play with a cat's emotions." Trevor said, smirking at Adolph's confused expression. "She also says Carol is due west. Let's hurry, she sounds scared." Trevor said, quickly gathering his and Carol's things and quickly making their way to Adolph's car.  
"Hopefully when we get there, it will be night." Adolph said through bared teeth, hoping they would find her in time for her to still be unharmed.

"Get the hell away from her, you pig." Dela hissed, trying to pull Steven off of Carol as he tore at her plaid pajamas to get to the skin underneath. Carol yelled in horror under him, trying to kick him off and finally looked at him and growled in frustration.  
"Dela- don't listen!" She yelled, and Dela covered her ears just in time to protect herself from the full brunt of a loud screeching scream from Carol. The scream formed into two sharp notes, each colliding with the other in a tone that made Steven yell in pain as he held his head and stumbled back away from her until she stopped screaming. He looked down to see blood on his hands from his ears and looked angrily over to Carol.  
"You little bitch, you'll pay for this." He snapped, and knocked on the door to signal to the men outside to open it. The metal door swung open and he walked outside, yelling.  
"That's quite a set of lungs you've got there, hon." Dela said, knocking on her ears to stop them from ringing.  
"Almost again…" Carol whispered, tucking her knees against her chest as she looked down at the bruises and cuts on her from his struggle to get to her.  
"Oh… again?" Dela looked down at Carol in concern and kneeled next to her. "You had that happen before… poor girl." Dela said, putting her arms around Carol for comfort as she cried.  
"I want Trevor to be here. I'm so worried. What if he has a concussion? They hit him really hard." Carol sobbed into Dela's shoulder. "And they shot Adolph… he was dead, Dela!"  
Dela looked down at Carol and sighed, tugging the girl over to her and setting her on her lap. "Carol, you've had so many bad things happen because of these bastards. Don't worry, we'll protect each other while we're here." She said, stroking Carol's back to calm her down as she cried into Dela's dirty shirt.  
"The sun's starting to set." Dela said quietly, moving Carol away from her. "You may not like what you're about to see, but I assure you, I won't hurt you." She said grimly, and sighed. "This is what I meant when I said I'd show you my abilities."  
Carol looked at her curiously and gasped as Dela's skin started sprouting spotted fur, her nose forming into that of a cat on her face.  
"Oh my god, you're a were… cat?" Carol looked at her, amazed.  
"You don't seem too surprised." Dela said in confusion, tilting her head. "Usually people are screaming by this point. Or else poking at me."  
"No, I have a friend like you." Carol said "When he showed me his form I was surprised, but this is normal for me now."  
"Normal?" Dela laughed. "This is nothing but normal, deary. I'm a jaguar by the way, not a regular cat." Dela said softly, looking down at the pads on her palm softly. "So there's still another one out there somewhere, huh?" She smiled warmly, closing her eyes in relief. "I was thinking I was the only one."  
"So was he." Carol nodded, and sat up with a deep sigh. "So how long have you been in here?"  
"Three months."  
Carol looked at Dela in shock, who chuckled.  
"Don't look so surprised. I can take care of myself, I'm a big girl."  
"Did he… try any of that with you?" Carol said cautiously.  
Dela grinned, her yellow eyes flashing. "Yeah, and he has the claw marks on his chest to prove it, the asshole."  
Carol smiled and looked at the metal door into the room thoughtfully, wondering where Trevor was, and how they were doing.


	20. Chapter 20

"Do you think this is it

"Do you think this is it?" Adolph looked at the house in front of them as the sun started setting.  
"I don't know, but I hear Carol's singing pretty strongly now." Trevor said, closing his eyes in pain at the intensity of such fearful sounding music.  
"Alright then, there's only one way to find out." Adolph said, looking down at his arm as he sprouted golden fur again. "Looks like we got here just in time."  
Trevor nodded, hiding behind a shrub as he looked at the front door to the huge house, noticing two men standing on either side of the door with guns. "I'm pretty sure this is the place. Your average house wouldn't have armed guards." Trevor said bitterly, and looked over to Adolph as he flexed his hands eagerly, wanting to get inside and find Carol. "Ready, shaggy?"  
"Ready." Adolph grinned, planning on turning into his werewolf form for maximum fear impact. "On the count of three, we rush for the door. ON three, not after it." He said, and held up his hand with three fingers, counting down as the hand changed into a more paw-like shape as he transformed. The final finger went down and Trevor stood, sending a lightning bolt through the ground toward the nearest pole, taking out the phone wires leading to the house first. He then ran after Adolph, who roared in anger at the two men, his paws flexing to make his claws seem larger in the moonlight. The two guards yelled in horror at the creature running toward them, fangs and claws bared to kill. They both dropped their guns and ran for the back of the house as quickly as they could to avoid the werewolf.  
"Some guards." Trevor said sarcastically. Adolph nodded with a chuckle and put a hand on the door.  
"Wait a minute." Trevor said, putting a hand on the knob and taking out any alarms attached to it. "Alright, go ahead. You first." He said, and they stormed into the main room. There was no furniture in the room, and two men in a black uniform stood with guns, looking at Adolph in horror. Adolph rushed toward them, breaking one man's neck, and tearing out the throat of another with ruthless accuracy.  
"Jesus man, remind me not to get you angry." Trevor said in shock as he watched Adolph wipe the blood from his muzzle. Adolph stood for a minute, his ears perking in different directions before he pointed to the stairs leading to the basement. They quickly descended the stairs, the smell of rotting flesh filling Adolph's nose. His eyes widened as he looked around in horror at the locked rooms, each filled with the putrid stench. He kicked one down, the metal crunching beneath the impact of his hit, revealing two dead bodies, one of a man and another of a young woman.  
"Fucking hell, what kind of shit are these people doing?" Trevor said, his eyes wide as he covered his nose and mouth from the smell. "Let's find Carol quickly." Trevor said, his heart pounding at the thought that she might already be dead. Adolph nodded and sniffed as he ran down the hall, Trevor following close behind. He sniffed at each door before shaking his head and moving on, finally finding one without the stench and kicking that one open only to find it filled with weapons ranging from grenades to machine guns. Adolph looked at Trevor nervously for a minute before continuing down the hall again. This was starting to look very bad.

"Shh, I hear something." Dela moved in front of Carol as voices yelled out in the hallway in panic. "What on earth is happening?" She said in confusion as she heard gunshots down the hall and a loud roar of some sort, like a large door closing.  
"I don't know, maybe there's a malfunction or something." Carol said, listening as well, but figuring she couldn't hear nearly as much as Dela could. One of the spotted cat ears on the top of Dela's head twitched slightly as she listened, and she looked over her shoulder at Carol.  
"Someone's coming toward us. Someone that's knocking out all the guards and everything. It can't be good." Dela said nervously, standing in front of Carol in a defensive stance. "If something happens… tell that guy you know who I am, and then sing with all your heart to get the hell out of here." Dela's jaguar tail lashed at the air behind her as she bared her fangs at her attackers. The metal door suddenly slammed open, revealing Hunter standing in the doorway. The lights in the building faded for a minute and came back on, fluttering for another second before going off completely.  
"I am sorry, my sister jaguar, for putting you in here. You as well, songbird. I have done horrible actions against you both, and I will not ask for forgiveness." He said, and ran in the direction the bangs and yells were coming from.  
"Wait! What's going on?" Dela asked as Hunter started to leave.  
"Someone has come to destroy the organization. I do not know who, and I am not planning on finding out. This atrocity against nature will finally be put to rest." Hunter said, with a sad smile, and finally ran out of the doorway. Dela looked back at Carol warily, as they both wondered whether it was safer to stay where they were, or to leave the room and risk facing those who would kill them on sight.

That's it, I'm sick of all these fuckers rushing us." Trevor yelled, knocking another thug out with an electrified punch. He looked around and grinned, seeing a power cord going up the ceiling to one of the many lights hanging from the metal panels above them. Trevor ran over to the cord and grabbed it with both hands, temporarily letting his shields down so that he poured as much electricity into the system as he could. He laughed triumphantly as the hallways went black, followed by yells of surprise and horror by the men trying to make their way to stop Trevor and Adolph. Adolph stood behind Trevor to guard his back as another wave of men came toward them, the stench of bodies still hanging in the air from the opened doors around them. With the final man on the ground unconscious, Trevor looked up to see a scrawny figure in the distance, staring at them in shock. He quickly recognized the figure and ran toward him, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and hoisting him into the air against the wall. "You're the one that shot Adolph, aren't you?" Trevor growled as Adolph's fur stood on end, looking up at the man in rage.  
"He-he's alive?" Hunter looked down at the golden wolf beside Trevor in relief.  
"Yeah, no thanks to you, you little bastard. Now tell me where the fuck Carol is in this place, you asshole." Trevor said, slamming Hunter against the hall to coax the information of him when he hesitated. "TELL ME!" Trevor yelled, sparks flying from his body as he yelled.  
Trevor looked down as Adolph barked and ran toward an opened room, running inside. Trevor looked at Hunter one last time before throwing him aside and running after Adolph into the room.

Carol scooted back in horror as a large figure suddenly came into the doorway, looking strangely like a large raging beast of some sort. Dela let out a long cat-like his threateningly, the tips of her fingers revealing deadly claws. The animal froze in its tracks when it saw Dela, yellow eyes wide in shock.  
"What is it?" A male voice said behind him, and Carol sat up slightly when she recognized the sparks of electricity coming from his hands in the pitch darkness of the room.  
"Trevor…?" She whispered, thinking it far too good to be true.  
"Carol!" The man said and ran into the room, completely ignoring Dela and running past her to fall to his knees in front of her and pull her to him tightly. "God I'm glad you're safe. Are you alright?" Trevor said, leaning away a little bit to try to see her in the darkness, but soon gave up.  
"Kleines, are you hurt at all?" A deeper voice said from the far side of the room, and in the animal's place stood a man. Carol gasped happily and scrambled to her feet, running over and hugging Adolph happily.  
"Adolph! You're alive, I thought you had died." She said, looking up when he chuckled.  
"You forgot I was immortal, didn't you, kleines?" He smirked down at her. Carol blushed and looked down in embarrassment, realizing that's exactly what had happened.  
"Uh Carol… mind telling me who these guys are?" Dela said, her eyes still locked onto Adolph.  
"Oh, I'm sorry Dela." Carol said, wiping her eyes from tears as she looked at all those around her.  
"The guy over there with the electricity powers is Trevor, and the one beside me is Adolph. He's the one I was talking about, who's like you." Carol smiled as Dela's eyes widened and her head tilted in disbelief.  
"Like me…?" Adolph asked, and walked closer toward Dela, stopping when he saw the slight fur covering her skin. "Scheiße, a were…?" He said, holding up his hand to show her the pads on his palm. Dela hesitated for a minute before doing the same, showing him her cat-like claws as well.  
"A cat were." Adolph said, his tone unreadable.  
"A jaguar were to be specific."  
"I am a dire wolf. Adolph Of the Berlin pack." Adolph said quietly, having not used that introduction in a very long time.  
"I am Dela of Mexico City. I don't have a pack."  
Trevor walked over beside Carol and put a hand around her waist, but stopped when he felt the tear in her pajamas. That meant that there had been a struggle of some sort, and she had been attacked by someone.  
"What happened, Carol?" he said softly, looking into her frightened eyes.  
"He.. Tried to do some stuff. I'm alright though, I screamed at him. And not a normal scream either." Carol said quietly, a small smile coming across her face. "I think I'm finally getting used to my singing."  
Trevor ran a hand through her hair soothingly, not knowing what to say. Another man had tried to take her away, to attack her and use her, and here he was, having the urgent need to sweep her away and keep her for himself. Was he really different than them? He was just being selfish.  
"I'm glad you're getting used to your abilities, at last. I told you your singing was a good thing." Trevor smiled, touching her cheek gently.  
"A very good thing. She made his ears bleed. I'm pretty sure she popped his eardrums." Dela chuckled. "Poor sap didn't know what hit him. He should have known not to mess with a chickadee like her."  
"Chickadee? She is no small bird." Adolph looked at Dela warily, not liking the fact that a cat were was nicknaming Carol after its prey.  
"Oh? What would you call her?" Dela raised an eyebrow at Adolph, frowning slightly.  
"I personally call her kleines, but you should not call her something you would hunt."  
"Kleines? A chickadee is small, so it's the same thing. The Indian guy called her songbird, and she strikes me as a small, shy and gentle person, and chickadees are quite friendly usually." Dela said, crossing her arms. "That's the only reason I called her that. Small birds like that aren't worth hunting, anyway. They're hardly even a bite."  
Carol sighed, realizing that Dela and Adolph had contrasting personalities, even more so than Trevor and Adolph had. They would fight even more than Adolph and Trevor had in the past.  
Trevor heard her sigh in the darkness and grinned. "Don't worry about those two, it's like a cat and a dog being in the same room. They'll get used to each other eventually, but it takes time. For now, let's get you the hell out of here. I hate this place, it smells horrible." Trevor said, cringing as another breeze sent the smell of rotting flesh into the room.  
"I agree. Let's go back to the hotel." Carol said, wrapping her arms around Trevor's neck. "This place scares me to death. I never want to see this place again." She said, resting her forehead against his shoulder.  
"You won't, Carol. I've made sure of that. I fucked up the wiring of this place so badly, they'll never be able to fix it all." Trevor snickered, and leaned down to pick Carol up, who made a small squeak of nervousness as she was suddenly hoisted into the air.  
"Come on, we'll sort this all out later. For now, we're leaving." Trevor said, and walked past Adolph and Dela into the hall and toward the nearest exit.


	21. Chapter 21

After driving back to the motel in time for the sun to rise again, Dela, Adolph, Trevor and Carol piled out of the car to go back up to their room for the night, hoping not to cause a fuss

After driving back to the motel in time for the sun to rise again, Dela, Adolph, Trevor and Carol piled out of the car to go back up to their room for the night, hoping not to cause a fuss. The woman at the main desk called them over, looking very nervous.  
"We heard loud noises in your room last night, is everything alright?" She saw Carol's ripped clothing but said nothing else.  
"Yeah, we had a little mishap, but otherwise we're fine. No need for concern." Adolph said, and looked at Carol. "She just got a little scraped up. Should heal in a few days."  
Carol nodded and smiled sweetly. "I'm pretty clumsy, I fell and tumbled. Don't worry about me, miss."  
The girl at the counter nodded warily and gave them a keycard. "Either way, we've moved your things to another room. Your room was pretty dirty. However, there is a problem…" The woman looked at Dela and bit her lip nervously. "There cannot be four people in one room at this motel, it's against regulations."  
"What?" Trevor said, looking annoyed. "Alright then, what can we do to fix the problem?"  
"Well, you could always get another room for two people…" the girl said shyly.  
"Right, let's do that then. Is there a chance we could get them right next to each other?" Trevor said, with a sigh.  
"Oh of course." The woman said, turning around and looking at a drawer of keycards. "I'm sorry I have to separate you, but all of our other rooms are taken. There's a convention in town, and everyone seems to come in a larger group." She said, handing them four keycards, two to one room and two to another. "Your rooms are now 233 and 234." She said, and smiled happily. "I hope you have a better night."  
"Me too.' Carol said softly, and walked toward the elevator with Trevor.  
Inside the elevator, Trevor looked at Adolph uneasily as the small box rose to the second floor. "Who should go in what room?"  
Adolph looked down at Trevor with a raised eyebrow and smiled. "I believe you would rather room with Carol, am I right?"  
"Yeah. No offense, Dela." Trevor said, looking over Adolph's shoulder to see Dela.  
"None taken." Dela smiled, and winked to Carol. "You fine with rooming with Mr. Lightning Bolt?"  
"Yeah, I'm okay with it." Carol said softly, looking down nervously.  
"Alright then." Trevor said, as the elevator opened onto the second floor. "We'll take 233 then. How about we leave tomorrow at 9?"  
"Agreed. That way we have some time for the breakfast, if they have it."  
"I doubt they will. But… do you think they'll have fish?" Dela said, her eyes widening eagerly as Adolph laughed and opened the door to their room, walking in with Dela and closing it behind him.  
"Do you think they'll be alright alone with each other for so long? They tend to fight a lot."  
"I'm sure they'll be fine. Besides, it's not like they can kill each other. They're both immortal." Trevor said, letting Carol walk into the room first before going in himself. He saw Adolph's bag on the floor as well, and sighed. "I'll be right back, gotta bring this to Adolph." Trevor said, picking up the bag. "Don't move, okay? I'll only be a few seconds."  
Carol nodded and looked down as Trevor shut the door behind him, sitting down on the bed behind her gently, raising the sleeve of her pajamas to see the marks on her arm from her struggles. She sighed softly and lowered it again, feeling a pain from her leg. It felt like there was a rather deep cut there, but she would have to wait before she saw it, because Trevor had already walked back into the room.  
"Now then, let's look at those cuts you have, and you can tell me how you got them." Trevor said, taking a first-aid kit from his backpack and sitting beside her on the bed.  
"Mostly from fighting people who were trying to restrain me." Carol whispered as Trevor took her arm and raised the sleeve, looking down at the scrapes on her arm with sad eyes.  
"Not from that one guy?" Trevor said, looking up at her for a minute to see her reaction.  
Carol sighed softly. "Some of them are, the one on my leg is." She said softly.  
"Your leg?" Trevor looked down at her leg to see a rather large cut in her pajamas, and through the cut he saw a sliver of red. "Maybe I should do that one first, it looks the worst."  
"N-no, it's alright." Carol said, blushing. "I can get that one myself."  
Trevor looked up and saw her blush, realizing where it must be and blushed as well. "Alright, but stay still while I get the rest of these then." Trevor said, taking a bottle of peroxide and cleaning the worst of the cuts on her arms before putting bandages over them. "How badly did he hurt you?" Trevor said softly, concentrating on his task as he waited for the answer, dreading what she would say next.  
"Not too badly. I didn't really give him a chance to get very far." She whispered, looking at the window of the room silently, her eyes thoughtful.  
"I'm sorry I let you get hurt again, Carol." He said, wiping a strand of hair away from her face softly before continuing his duty. She looked back up at him, watching for a minute and seeing his anger before reaching up and poking him on the nose to get his attention.  
"You didn't let me get hurt, Trevor. You tried your best to protect me, but the guy had a gun. I'm just glad you didn't get shot. I don't know what I would have done if that had happened." She said, blushing slightly and looking down and back up at him shyly.  
He smiled and chuckled softly. "I did get a pretty bad bump on the head though. The asshole hit me pretty hard."  
"Well, you were about to zap him into next week." Carol snickered, making Trevor smile as well.  
"True." He said, looking at a nasty but on her arm. "I don't like to see you with all these cuts and bruises though. Whenever you get caught like that, you should just stay still, then try to get out when they don't expect it."  
Carol blinked for a few times and sighed softly. "I hadn't thought about that, it would have been more effective." She rolled her eyes. "I get so mixed up when under pressure."  
"I know. That's alright though, you get better as you go along." Trevor finished bandaging her other arm and looked down at her pajamas, which were ripped and hanging around her. "You can't sleep in those, they'll rip off you and… um… that would be bad. You can wear one of my t-shirts." Trevor said with a blush, and walked over to his bag, taking out a large t-shirt.  
"Here you go, you can have it." He said, handing it to her and turning around. "You can get changed in the bathroom, if you want. I'll go get us some snacks from the machine down the hall."  
Carol smiled as Trevor left the room in a hurry and giggled at his nervousness around her. She figured he really did like her a lot, but he wasn't used to girls. She looked down at the t-shirt in her hands thoughtfully and figured that since he was out of the room, she might as well change here.  
She quickly took off her top and put on the t-shirt, and took of her pants more slowly, whimpering in pain as the fabric pulled at the gash on her leg, stuck to it from the dried blood. The door opened and Trevor yelled in shock when he saw her taking off her pants, turning around in the doorway.  
"I thought you were going to change in the bathroom?!" he said, his cheeks flushed crimson.  
"Well, you were out of the room, so I figured I would be alright. Besides, I don't want to walk on this cut too much, it hurts more than I thought it would." Carol said, breathing heavily as she stopped pulling at the fabric and the pain ceased. Trevor glanced over his shoulder at her in concern and looked at the tear in her pajama legs, realizing that the pants must be stuck to the wound.  
"Well, unfortunately there's only one way to get it off." Trevor said, looking down at her nervously.  
"I know, I'm just having a hard time with it. I don't like pain, especially doing it to myself." Carol said, biting her lip before pulling again and yelping out in pain.  
"Stop." Trevor said, grabbing her wrist. "You don't have to do it like that, I'll help you if you want."  
Carol looked up at Trevor with a blush. "You're sure you're alright touching that area?"  
"What area?" Trevor's eyes widened. Carol pointed to the inside of her lower thigh, and Trevor cleared his throat nervously. "I suppose not, to help you from pain. It will hurt still, but only for a minute." He said, and cautiously reached down to grab a handful of the wool fabric around the side of her knee, the other hand grabbing fabric near her upper thigh. "Are you ready?"  
"For what? Will it hurt a lot?" Carol said, her eyes wide.  
"Yeah. Only for a minute though. It's better than doing it slowly." Trevor said, looking down at the gash and back up at her face. "And the more we wait, the worse it will get."  
"Alright then, I guess I'm ready." Carol said, closing her eyes and grabbing at the blankets on the bed in anticipation.  
"Alright, here we go." Trevor said before yanking hard and quick at the fabric, hearing a sickly tearing sound.  
"AARGH!" Carol yelled, tears coming to her eyes from the pain. She calmed and whimpered as Trevor moved the pajama pants down her legs and finally off. He looked up at her in concern and brought over a white cloth.  
"Sorry." Trevor said, wrapping an arm around her, and with the other hand holding the cloth to the gash to stop the newly flowing blood.  
"It's okay, it's better that it's off now." Carol said, her voice shaky. "I'm just a wuss when it comes to pain." she wiped the tears from her eyes and took a deep breath to calm down.  
"No, that would have hurt a lot to anyone. You're not a wuss." Trevor smiled, pulling her to him so that she leaned against his chest. "I'm just glad you're not too hurt. It scared the shit out of me when I realized they had taken you."  
Carol smiled softly, rubbing her cheek against his chest softly. "You were really worried, weren't you? Why?" She said, hoping to get him to actually confess that he liked her.  
Trevor looked down at her in surprise and blinked for a minute, wondering what she wanted from that question. "Well, because I didn't want you to get hurt by those bastards."  
Carol chuckled slightly, turning to him. "Why do you care so much whether I get hurt or not? We've only known each other for a week."  
Trevor looked down at her and cleared his throat uneasily, trying to think of what to say. "Well, I guess because I've gotten pretty used to you around."  
Carol sighed, and shook her head, putting a hand to his cheek, making him inhale sharply in surprise. "You know the answer I want, Trevor. Please?" She looked at him with wide eyes, worried that she had guessed wrong. What if he really was just protecting her because it was his job?  
"I-uh…" Trevor stammered, his ice blue eyes widening. "I don't want to change you, Carol. I'm not a nice guy or anything, and that's what you deserve. I'd only corrupt you somehow."  
Carol scoffed, and laughed softly. "Corrupt me? Please. There's a side of me you've only just started to see, Trevor. I'm not as pure as snow or anything. In fact-" Carol smiled, hiking one of her legs over his. "I can be pretty dirty sometimes."  
"Oh shit." Trevor blushed, not knowing what to do next. "H-how's your other leg feeling?" He asked, trying to change the subject.  
"It feels much better, thanks to you." Carol smiled, running a hand through his blond hair thoughtfully. "Why do you think you're such a nasty guy? Just because you killed people? Don't be silly. You're one of the nicest guys I've ever met."  
Trevor stared at her thoughtfully, and looked at the ground. "You think so?"  
Carol looked up at him, and held his face in her hands gently, leaning up to kiss his lips softly. "I wouldn't want to be with you if you weren't."  
"Y-you want to be with me? Does that mean…?" Trevor looked at her anxiously, trying not to show the hope springing up in him.  
"Yes it does. I love you, Trevor. I love how you're so protective, I love how you act so tough but you're really a softy, and I love how you're so loyal to your friends." she whispered against his mouth.  
He let out a sharp breath of surprise and grabbed her to him, kissing her hard and passionately. "God I had hoped… but… I didn't know…" He said, a bright grin on his face.  
"Wow, look at that smile." Carol giggled, poking his nose playfully. "Do you love me, Trevor?"  
Trevor smiled, running a hand through her hair as he kissed her cheek softly. "Yes, I do. For more reasons than I can count."  
Carol sighed happily and rested her cheek against his shoulder. "Thank you. I don't know what I would do without you." She said, closing her eyes.  
"Same here, Caroline." Trevor said, taking away the cloth from her gash and nodded in satisfaction when he saw that the bleeding had stopped. He leaned over the side of the bed to grab some bandages and gauze, leaning back up to put the gauze against the cut and wrap bandages to keep it in place.  
"Now, don't move around too much or the cut will open again." Trevor said, tearing the bandage with his teeth as he finished and wrapping the remainder around before securing it.  
"Aw, that's too bad." Carol said, a sly grin coming over her face. Trevor's eyes widened and he blushed.  
"Don't look at me like that, it's like you want to eat me or something." his eyes widened more. "Wrong choice of words."  
"Don't look so nervous around me, Trevor. I'm not some predator or something." Carol laughed and leaned back in the bed. "Did you want to sleep on the floor again?"  
"Do I have a choice?" Trevor looked at her, wondering what she was trying to hint at.  
"Well, I- I'm still pretty shaken up from that guy, and I'll probably have nightmares tonight. Bad nightmares." she said uneasily.  
"Did you want me to sleep next to you, Carol?" Trevor smiled down at her. "I promise not to try anything you wouldn't want. I'll just hold you so you won't feel alone."  
"Thank you." Carol whispered, climbing under the covers and blushing as Trevor did the same and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing the back of her neck.  
"If you have a nightmare, go ahead and wake me up. I won't mind." he said, and yawned loudly. "Let's get some sleep. I used a lot of power, so I need to recharge."  
"Literally." Carol snickered, and tucked her legs underneath her like she always did while she slept.  
"You're going to open your cut sleeping like that." Trevor said, pushing her legs back down. Carol sighed and nodded in understanding, moving her one good leg up under her.  
She smiled as Trevor fell asleep within a few minutes behind her, his breath warm against her neck. She closed her eyes as well, falling asleep after a day with both horror and happiness.


	22. Chapter 22

Trevor woke lazily and stretched, feeling oddly at ease

Trevor woke lazily and stretched, feeling oddly at ease. He opened his eyes to see the hotel ceiling and froze, realizing he was still in bed with Carol. He looked sown nervously and held back a small pained groan as he saw Carol curled up against him, her leg wrapped around his, and her arm laid across his chest. He looked at her face resting peacefully on his shoulder and moaned softly- her hair was tousled from sleep, and her cheeks were slightly flushed as she smiled softly. Trevor reached his free hand up to put it over his face in frustration, trying to think of what to do next. Would he offend her if he moved away? Would she want to stay in this position? How the hell was he supposed to know? How was he supposed to resist this terrible temptation? He was only a man for God's sake.  
"Mmm, Trevor…" Carol whispered in her sleep, making Trevor look down at her in surprise. Was she dreaming about him? Part of him was thrilled by the idea, but another part was terrified. He flinched as she slowly opened her eyes, and he prepared for her horrified reaction. Instead, she only blushed and giggled softly.  
"Sorry, I guess I wanted to snuggle." She said softly, her voice slightly raspy from sleeping. She looked up at him and saw his uneasy expression, her smile soon fading to a frown. "You're not angry, right?"  
"Oh- uh, no. Just kind of confused, I guess."  
"About what?" Carol asked, sitting up in a new position to talk to him better, but still leaning gently against him.  
"I don't really know how to react to these situations. I just don't want to make you angry and mess everything up." He looked up in surprise when Carol laughed.  
"Silly boy- you're worrying too much. You know how hard it is for me to stay angry for long."  
"That's true." he grinned. "I just don't want to hurt you."  
Carol smiled softly and leaned up to kiss him softly. "You won't hurt me, Trevor. You've saved my life- this is the least I can do for such a wonderful person like you." She put a finger over his mouth when he opened it to protest. "And yes, you are a good a person. No matter what you say to deny it, you are."  
They both looked over at the wall as they heard Adolph and Dela fighting loudly and both sighed softly.  
"Tonight… I'll convince you to not be so afraid, alright? Things will turn out right, I just know it." She smiled lustily, making Trevor gulp nervously.  
"Now, we'd better go save Adolph before Dela rips his head off. I somehow think he can't live through that." Carol chuckled and untangled herself from Trevor before hopping out of bed. Trevor watched as she went around the room, getting ready to go and change her clothes by taking them out of her bag.  
"What?" She smiled when she caught him watching, but he only grinned and shook his head. "Nothing."  
"Carol watched him for a minute longer curiously before rolling her eyes and going to the bathroom to change.  
They both finished getting ready and stood outside Adolph and Dela's room, hesitating before knocking on the door. They both heard Dela's voice yell several languages worth of profanities, and Adolph's laugh from inside the room. Carol knocked on the door and Dela finally burst through.  
"Thank GOD you're here! I'm NEVER talking to that stupid dog again!" She yelled, and stormed down the hall. Adolph stood grinning in the doorway, watching her stomp down the corridor toward the elevator with an amused chuckle.  
"What are you grinning about, shaggy?" Trevor looked at Adolph curiously.  
"I have never met a woman quite like her. She is how you say…" he thought for a minute to find the right word. "Hot." He finished with a light dog-like growl.  
Trevor put a hand to his forehead in frustration. "You've got to be kidding! She's the only woman in the world that doesn't like you."  
"That will change, with time." Adolph grinned and walked down the hall after Dela.  
"Gee, he's not modest at all, is he?" Carol grinned sarcastically, and Trevor only shook his head in dismay, following them.

"So where are we trying to do go, anyway?" Dela said as she got into the front seat next to Adolph, with Trevor and Carol both sitting in the back.  
"Colorado." Trevor said. "To my cabin to keep low for a while, and try to find out who's trying to get after her."  
"Unfortunately, with what she did to him, I have a feeling Steven will be after her with more determination than ever." Dela said, with a sigh.  
"What did you do?" Trevor looked beside him at Carol.  
"When I screamed, his ears started bleeding." Carol said shyly, still not liking the fact that she could hurt people so easily with her abilities.  
"Nice- maybe you fucked with his brain!" Trevor laughed, making Carol blush.  
"So what was it that he was trying to do by taking you?" Adolph said, glancing to Carol in the rearview mirror curiously.  
"He was trying to make his own society that he think is 'perfect'- no matter what he has to do to get there. He's probably pretty desperate at this point, since you destroyed his base and scared away most of his lackeys."  
"I hadn't thought about that…" Trevor said grimly. He let out a low growl of frustration and looked out the window. "This gives us even more reason to keep low for a while. There's no way he's getting his filthy hands on Carol again."  
Adolph looked into the rearview mirror to smile knowingly at Trevor with a chuckle. "Kleines, keep a close eye on him. He is hyped up on emotion and hormones. I can smell them from here. He is likely to try and do something extreme if the opportunity arises."  
Trevor glared at Trevor with a slight blush, and glanced to Carol, who giggled.  
"We only have a day's left of travel before we get to Colorado. However, I think we should call Orsanos. I think we may need him to defeat this Steven guy, from what Dela has said about him."  
"Orsanos? Do we need that much fire power?" Trevor leaned forward in shock.  
"I'm afraid so. Orsanos may be the only one able to defeat an ability such as Steven's. Telekinesis is a very formidable power."  
Trevor nodded uneasily, not liking the idea of bringing such a power being out into the open. Orsanos wasn't known to fighting subtly.  
"Who is this Orsanos? Is he a good fighter?" Dela looked at Adolph with raised eyebrows.  
Adolph laughed and nodded. "Indeed he is, Kitten. He is nearly 1,700 years old. The last immortal of the elven race."  
Dela looked at Adolph in shock for a moment. "I really hope you're kidding like usual. You're not serious, are you?"  
"Indeed, I am. He saved me from imprisonment in World War II. We realized how many people with abilities had been killed because of their differences, and so started a sanctuary to protect them from further harm. As I am the last known werewolf, and as you are the last known were jaguar, we must protect the mortals from any danger that may face them. Like Carol."  
Dela looked at Adolph in surprise, and her yellow eyes glanced to Trevor and Carol before looking back to Adolph, as if confused.  
"You're sure different, aren't you?" She whispered, leaning back in her seat.  
"You have no idea." Adolph chuckled. "I have met many strange people in my few hundred years. I am younger than you Kitten, but that doesn't mean I don't know less than you."  
"Just… stop calling me Kitten." Dela sighed and rolled her eyes.  
"Ah, you are getting used to it. Last night you nearly ripped my lungs out when I called you kitten." Adolph grinned, his eyes flashing in amusement as he glanced at Dela, but continued to look toward the road.  
Carol smiled at Adolph, and brushed her hand against Trevor's affectionately. He looked at her curiously and smiled warmly, taking her hand in his own.  
The rest of the car ride was mostly filled with small talk and short gas station stops for food and bathroom breaks. Finally a range of mountains appeared in the distance, looming closer and closer with the distance traveled. Trevor sighed happily, looking at the mountains in anticipation. He had missed his cabin since he had began traveling to save Carol. Not that he regretted going after her at all, but he had missed the solitude of his valley and large cabin.  
"This is wonderful, mein freund! Such paradise." Adolph looked at the forests and mountains around them with wild, eager eyes. "I must spend time in these forests while we stay here. Would you mind at all if I just stayed in the wilderness while we laid low?" Adolph looked at Trevor, who shrugged.  
Dela laughed and shook her head. "This place does look nice. I think I'll stay outdoors too. Give myself a little mini-vacation." She smiled, looking at the immense trees outside the windows. "Not quite the same as Brazil, but close enough, I suppose."  
"I have never been to Brazil, but this is relatively close to Berlin's forests." Adolph said, his eagerness making him overexcited and grinning brightly.  
"Damn, you two are going to run around the forest the entire time we're here? Alright then, I don't mind at all." Trevor chuckled, and glanced to Carol. "That just means we'll have the house to ourselves." He smirked. Carol blushed and nodded. Adolph raised an eyebrow, and shook his head.  
"We're so close." Trevor said happily, looking out of the window, and pointed to a dirt driveway coming near them off the road. "Turn into there. It'll be a long road, but at the end is the cabin."  
Adolph turned and drove his yellow car down the long winding road into deeper and deeper forests. Trevor sighed in relief when the buzzing that had been running through his head from the local cities finally faded into silence. Adolph parked in front of the large log cabin in front of them.  
It was a two story cabin, complete with frosted windows to soften the bright mountain light that came in from the mountains on either side of the valley. Carol looked up at it in wonder, amazed that the place actually belonged to Trevor.  
"How did you afford such a huge place?" She gasped, looking toward Trevor. He looked at her uneasily, and sighed.  
"No matter how horrible the work that I did for the gangs in New York, they paid well. I put most of the money into this house, and saved the rest of it for food and crap. I'm well off for a while." He said, looking at Carol nervously of what she would think of him keeping the ill-gotten money.  
"Dang, really? It's such a nice house though! And don't worry." She smiled reassuringly, seeing his nervous face. "I would have done the same thing."  
He nodded in relief, and got out of the car along with the others. He stretched his aching legs and arms and took a deep breath of fresh air as he looked up at his home.  
"Alright everyone, I'll show you around." He said, walking toward the door of the cabin along with Carol.  
"No need. I have to explore this expansive forest." Adolph looked around him eagerly, his yellow eyes bright with anticipation.  
"I'll tag along and make sure he doesn't get killed by a puma or something." Dela laughed, and followed Adolph as he ran into the forest, the sun low in the sky.  
Trevor watched after them and laughed in amusement, walking inside the cabin with Carol.  
"WOAH!" Carol looked around her at the deep greens and blues of the décor, which was sparse, but well placed. She saw a mirror on the wall and walked over to it, flinching when she saw her messy hair and scrapes along her arms and neck. She saw Trevor walking behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist comfortingly.  
"Don't worry about it. I still think you look pretty." He said, a slight blush coming over his cheeks as he attempted flirting again, still not used to it.  
Carol smiled and leaned back against his chest, looking at him holding her in the mirror's reflection. He was taller than her, nearly half a foot in difference, and his ice blue eyes were bright as he smiled at her ever-watching eyes. His blond hair fell over his face as he leaned his chin against the top of her head, closing his eyes in content. He was home, and Carol was finally safe. No one knew where this cabin even was, besides Orsanos, Adolph and now Dela and Carol. He didn't even have a registered phone here, only his own cell phone, from which he heard the electric hum from inside his pocket.  
"So the sun's starting to set. That means Adolph and Dela are probably going to run around in the night in their were forms." Carol smiled. "What should we do?" She said.  
"Well, I think we should change the bandage on your thigh, and clean your cuts and everything. After that, it's up to you, really." Trevor said, and released her from his arms. She looked up at him with a raised eyebrow and grinned teasingly.  
"You just want me to take my pants off." She accused, making him flush scarlet and hold his hands up defensively.  
"N-no, not at all! I just don't want the cut to get infected, you know?" He stammered, and turned annoyed when she laughed.  
"Don't worry, I know. I was only teasing you." Carol reached up and poked him in the nose, making Trevor flinch.  
"You sly little girl." He chuckled, picking her up off the ground and carrying her over onto the nearby couch. "Sit here imp, and I'll go get some bandages from the closet." He said, and walked into the hallway across the room. He soon came back with a first aid kit, and kneeled down in front of Carol, taking out a few gauze and taking out a self-adhesive bandage.  
"Alright, pants off." He grinned. Carol rolled her eyes with a smile and stood, biting her lip nervously as she wriggled out of her jeans. Trevor's eyes flashed as he looked at her long slender legs, but resisted reaching out to touch them. Instead, he sat her back down and gingerly unraveled the bandage around her thigh.  
"Does it still hurt a lot?" He asked, looking up at her to see whether he was hurting her by moving the gauze around while he unwrapped.  
"Not so much. Just a little sore, and prickly. It's probably from the nasty scab I know will be there." she sighed, looking down as the bandage was finally unwrapped, and the gauze taken away to reveal a nasty scab.  
"I thought so." she shook her head, running a finger along the red bumps in dismay. Trevor took her hand away, looking at her in worry.  
"I really wouldn't worry. Scabs are a good sign. It means it's healing." Trevor said, and washed it off with soap and water before re-bandaging it.  
"You sure do know a lot about first aid. Did you take a class?"  
"Yeah, Orsanos said that it was a good idea for me to, just in case. Turned out to be a good thing, huh?" He smiled, an patted her leg softly when he had finished wrapping. "All set. Can you feel my hand?" He said, grabbing her foot. She nodded and smiled softly.  
"Thank you for taking such good care of my, Trevor." She said softly. He nodded and ran a hand softly against her shin.  
"No problem, angel. You deserve all the care that you get." He said, and stood to sit next to her on the couch. He looked down at her warmly as she leaned against his chest gently, humming softly in happiness.  
"So how should we arrange sleeping tonight?" She asked softly, a slight smirk on her face.  
"Well, since Adolph and Dela will be sleeping outside, there's an extra room open for you if you'd like. That way we're not packed in like sardines." Trevor said with a shrug.  
Carol sat up, frowning slightly before putting on a bright smile. "Perfect! I'll move my bag in there, then." She said, and stood up to bring her heavy backpack over to the spare room Trevor had pointed at.  
Trevor saw the frown and watched her in concern, wondering if he had said something to displease her. He looked around thoughtfully, trying to figure it out and finally gave up with a heavy sigh, walking over to his own room.

_Silly boy. Must I help you with everything?_  
Carol woke suddenly, feeling hot and sticky in the summer night. She pulled back the cover to see her nightgown plastered against her skin with sweat. She sat up and looked down at herself in confusion, her head spinning and her throat dry. She stood up and clumsily walked over to the bathroom, realizing her cheeks were flushed crimson, and her breathing rapid. Something was wrong.  
She got a quick drink and walked over into the hallway, wanting to be near Trevor. She walked into his dark room, smelling the thick huskiness of male everywhere around her. Her senses seemed so heightened… what was happening?  
"Who's there?" Trevor sat up quickly, sensing another presence in the room from a thundering heartbeat's electric pulses. He saw a very flustered Carol standing at the end of the bed, her clothing sticking to her skin as he spotted beads of sweat on her forehead.  
"Are you alright, Carol?" he said in concern, standing up and walking her over so that she sat on the bed next to him.  
"Yeah, I feel fine." She said, looking up at him. He was so nice to her all the time, always caring and always watching out for her well-being. He was really cute, too. She smiled up at him, and he leaned back in surprise at such a hungry look from Carol.  
"A-are you sure you're okay, Carol?" He said uneasily, wondering what the strange smell coming from her was. It smelled strangely of flowers and mystery, if such a thing was possible.  
"Oh yes, I'm very okay." She said, putting a warm hand to his chest and leaning up to kiss him deeply, wrapping her arms around his neck.  
He looked down at her for a minute in surprise, but fell into the kiss as well, his mind clouding. Something was rushing through him, making him warm and restless.  
"Trevor- I can't wait. This is driving me insane." Carol said against his lips, surprising him once again. He swore softly and pushed her away softly, looking at her in concern.  
"Are… are you saying that you…?" he looked at her with wide eyes as she smiled lustily.  
'Oh god, I'm so screwed' he thought to himself as she chuckled and pushed him back against his bed.


	23. Chapter 23

Carol smiled and kissed him again, laying on top of him with her legs on either side of his waist

Carol smiled and kissed him again, laying on top of him with her legs on either side of his waist.  
"Carol- what's gotten into you?" Trevor said frantically, wondering why Carol was all of a sudden being so forward.  
"I love you, Trevor. So much… I don't know why, but I just have to feel you. Feel you under me, over me, beside me, inside me…" She whispered against his throat, making his eyes widen and a long moan come from the back of his throat at the thought of what she was hinting at.  
"Are… you sure you want to do this?" He looked down at her as she moved her kisses down to his bare chest.  
"Yes, I am." She said, and looked up at him with warm eyes to show that she knew what she was saying.  
He made a low moan and grabbed her hips tightly, flipping them over so that he was on top, supporting his weight on his elbows so he wouldn't crush her.  
"Alright, just making sure." He said quickly, before kissing her deeply, moving his hands over her sides gently as she gripped as his shoulders. She gasped as his hands traveled beneath her shirt to feel the satin soft skin underneath, and shivers traveled up and down her spine as he raised the clothing up and over her head, his eyes softening when he looked at her.  
"God, Carol…" he whispered, kissing her softly before kissing her neck and finally moving down to one of her breasts. He hadn't done this before- he didn't really know what to do, but he made his best guess. He kissed her breast softly, his hand squeezing it experimentally. At her swift gasp he smiled and continued, leaning down to kiss it again. Carol moaned softly, making the blood rush even faster through him, his heart pounding inside his chest as she moved her hands down his stomach to the hem of his jeans.  
"Off… please…" She whimpered, her eyes half closed and dark with passion. Trevor shuddered at the realization of what was happening, pleasure running through him as she moved her hands along his back softly. He quickly kicked off his jeans and underwear, looking down at her with wild eyes as passion clouded his senses, his mind going blank. Carol smiled up to him and hummed softly in pleasure as he took a grip at either side of her panties and slowly brought them down her legs and off completely.  
She looked up at him with wide eyes as she lay naked beneath him, feeling the hardness of him push against her good leg. She closed her eyes and shuddered from the sensations running through her, a soft pressure building up inside her. Trevor lifted himself up and settled himself against her as he kissed her gently, in the most meaningful kiss of his life.  
"Carol- are you sure you want to do this? It's up to you. We can stop if you want to." Trevor managed to say, his voice husky.  
"No- keep going." She gasped as she felt him against her entrance, making fireworks go off in her mind.  
"Alright. I'll be gentle." He said, and slowly began to push his way into her. Carol moaned and raised her legs around his waist, hooking her ankles behind him as sensations swamped her. Trevor finally met the end of her, buried inside her hot tightness.  
"Holy shit… Carol, oh my God…" He gasped, his blond hair falling over his eyes as he raised his head with a loud moan. He began his stroking movements, slow at first, but quickly building. Carol looked up at him with wonder, never knowing it could feel this good to be with a man, especially the man she loved more than any other. All she had known from sex was pain and violence, but this was something else entirely different…  
She whimpered as the pressure inside of her continued to build, the tension rising between them as his strokes became long and deeper, the pressure building and building until it threatened to tear her to pieces. He finally stiffened, yelling her name as he shuddered against her and finally sighed, falling onto her in exhaustion. They breathed against each other as they tried to catch their breath, Trevor rolling off of her before he could crush her with his weight. He looked down at her lovingly, moving a stray lock of brown hair from her flushed face.  
"Trevor…" She whispered, looking over at him in wonder. "I never knew it could be like that." She whispered, curling against him. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her, resting his cheek against the top of her head.  
"Me either. That was my first time." he chuckled when he saw her surprised face. "What, did you think I had been with tons of women? No… you're the first woman I've loved, and the last." He said, kissing her nose softly.  
"Anyway. We should get some actual sleep now. We'll both sleep in my bed. I'm sorry I didn't realize you didn't want to be alone before." Trevor said softly, wrapping his arms around Carol.  
"You're fine. Let's just get some sleep, I'm tired."  
"You're tired? I'm the one that did all the work." Trevor chuckled, kissing Carol's forehead before leaning back to get some rest.


	24. Chapter 24

The next two weeks were filled with lazy days and blissful nights

The next two weeks were filled with lazy days and blissful nights. The more they got to know each other, the deeper their emotions seemed to get. However, despite the effort of staying protected and cared for, Carol soon got sick. She groaned, holding her head as it throbbed in pain.  
"You okay, angel?" Trevor put a comforting hand on her shoulder as they sat in the living room of his cabin, watching TV.  
"Yeah, I just don't feel too good." she whimpered, shaking her head to try to clear her mind. That motion only made her even more dizzy and nautious. She leaped out of the chair and scrambled for the bathroom just in time to present the toilet with a loud greeting of sickness.  
"Did you catch the flu?" Trevor asked in concern as he leaned down beside her and lifted her hair from her face as her body shook.  
"I think so. It's probably from all the stress and traveling. It's finally catching up with me." She whispered, her throat still raw.  
"Why is it that in books the hero never gets sick after going through so much shit? You'd think they'd at least catch a cold." Trevor said, trying to distract her from her nausea.  
"Probably because that's realistic. No one wants to see the main character puking up their cuts every five pages." She said with a small hiccup.  
"It doesn't make sense though. Heroes are supposed to be more appealing if they're vulnerable, right?"  
"Not too vulnerable though. Not many people like sick heroes." She said, feeling strangely better.  
"We are back!" Adolph's voice called through the house. "Thank you for such a wonderful opportunity, Trevor." Adolph grinned as he walked into the living room in front of Dela. "Who weeks in the Colorado mountains- this place is indeed paradise!"  
Carol and Trevor walked out of the bathroom, Carol wiping her mouth from the drink of water she had taken. Dela walked beside Adolph, looking around the room curiously.  
"Nice place." she said, having not seen the inside of the house yet.  
"Thanks. Are you guys staying indoors now?" Trevor asked, wondering if he had enough room for them both to sleep in separate rooms.  
Adolph raised and eyebrow curiously, sniffing the air. He followed the scent to Carol and stood rigid, his hackles rising as he fumed in anger.  
"What have you two been doing while we were gone?!" he shouted, turning to look sharply at a very confused Trevor.  
Trevor thought he heart Erato's laugh ringing through his head as Adolph stormed over to him and picked him up by his collar off the ground.  
"You IDIOT! I cannot believe you! Sie dumme Hure von einem Mann! Do you know what you have done?"  
Everyone stood still, not knowing what the source of Adolph's anger was. Dela looked at him in confusion and sniffed the air as well, her eyebrows raising.  
"You two have been busy, huh, Chickadee?" Dela smiled slyly.  
"Adolph- please put Trevor down, he didn't do anything wrong." Carol said pleadingly. Adolph glanced at her and lower Trevor to the floor with a sigh.  
"I will be kind, but I am not pleased by this situation." Adolph said gruffly.  
"I still don't know what the hell you're talking about. Why are you so pissed at me?" Trevor said in frustration, straightening out his shirt.  
"You mated! She is with pup, you fool!" Adolph growled angrily.  
"WHAT?!" Both Trevor and Carol yelled in shock.  
"She has no sickness, other than her child trying to tell her of its existence. It is what you call 'morning sickness'."  
"A-a kid? My child?" Trevor blanched, backing up to the sofa and collapsing into it in shock. He had already planned on marrying Carol after the whole fiasco was over and starting a family of his own, but now he was afraid she would think he was forced into it.  
"I suppose it makes sense. We were kind of reckless. Not that I'm regretting it at all." Carol grinned saucily, surprising Adolph, but Trevor only blushed with a warm smile.  
"Then- you initiated it?" Adolph whispered in shock.  
"She even snuck into my room at night." Trevor snickered.  
"So… Carol… convinced you to do it then?" Adolph looked at Trevor in surprise.  
"I bet it didn't take much convincing." Dela chuckled, making Trevor blush again.  
"I have a feeling Erato thought we were going too slow for her taste." Carol chuckled.  
"We were going a tad slow, but this is shocking." Adolph said, running a hand nervously through his blond hair "Carol- you must be protected more than ever now."  
"Agreed." Trevor said bluntly. "And no more running around and going off to get a granola bar. You're going to start eating right. You're feeding two, now."  
"Oh no, you're not going to be over protective, are you?" Carol groaned.  
"Damn straight. Get used to it. It's our kid, and I want it and you to be as healthy as possible."  
Dela laughed and shook her head. "Good luck, Carol." She said and walked into the kitchen to get something to eat.  
"This means you must take better care of yourself, kleines. Your pup is very special."  
"How so?" Carol looked at Adolph curiously.  
"There has never been a child between two gifted humans before. It is unprecedented."  
Carol put a hand to her abdomen protectively. "Is that a bad thing?"  
"I honestly do not know. Since I, Orsanos and Trinity started the protective group for the defense of gifted humans, we knew this would happen at some point.I never expected Trevor to be the father though, and you the mother. It is hard to tell with both of your chaotic powers what the child's ability will be like. It may be a mesh of the two, or it may be something completely- perhaps even a pure copy of either." Adolph said thoughtfully.  
Trevor looked at carol. "We'll get through that trial when it comes. For now- we have lunch. I'm fucking starving."  
"Wait- Adolph, did you say you started the group to help the gifted with Orsnaos?" Carol said in confusion.  
"Aye, just after World War II, when the Nazis released me from prison." Adolph said simply, and walked into the kitchen after Dela. Trevor and Carol looked at each other in surprise before following.

"He's here!" Adolph cheered, walking up to the door as another round of knocks sounded from outside. It had been a few days since Trevor and Carol's surprise, and Orsanos had finally arrived. Adolph opened the door to his old friend and they grabbed each others forearms in an ancient greeting.  
"Trevor, your house is indeed lovely." Orsanos said in approval as he walked into the house, his red-headed secretary trailing behind him.  
"You brought Jackie?" Adolph looked at the auburn haired woman in surprise.  
"Yes, I figured her abilities might be able to aid in our ventures. Now, what were get going to do to defeat this monster of a man?" The elf smiled, his green eyes flashing in excitement.  
"Well first we have to find them." Trevor said with a grim expression. "We don't even know where they are."  
"Ah, a simple matter. Just a moment, please." Orsanos said with a polite smile and closed his eyes, his face falling into a calm expression. He grinned slyly and opened his eyes again.  
"He is in hiding. I know where he is, though. Shall we get going, then? I have much to do, and Fergi is in need as of late."  
"What's been wrong with the little pup?" Adolph asked as they walked out the door into the yard, two cars parked in the grass in front of the cabin.  
"She is going through a growth right now. Apparently it is a very human event, and all women experience it. However, it is creating a flux in her abilities, which are growing right along with her. She now has premonitions as well."  
"That girl just keeps getting more and more powerful." Adolph chuckled. "Pretty soon we'll have to give her the same lessons as Jackie had."  
"And I would love to help you teach her in any way." Jackie smiled, her light green eyes happy. She looked to Orsanos, who cleared his throat and continued.  
"Either way, she will be next after this event is finished." Orsanos said in a strong tone, telling all around him there was no changing his opinion on the matter.  
"Event? Is it crazy? This guy's super powerful- he can move things, read minds…" Dela said in frustration. Adolph laughed as Orsanos looked at Dela in amusement.  
"My little feline, I am an immortal. The only way I could possibly die is if he skewered me with an iron rod. I highly doubt that would happen. I am also able to read minds and move things." Orsanos looked down at Dela for a minute before a large grin came over his face. "And be careful with Adolph. His ego is already large enough."  
Dela looked at Orsanos in horror and blanched, quickly climbing into the passenger seat of Adolph's car. Adolph looked at Orsanos curiously, who shook his head.  
"No my friend, you must find out for yourself. It will come in due time." The elf said with another smile, and opened the door for Jackie before walking over to the driver's seat and getting in as well.  
"Follow me, it is not far." Orsanos said through the window of his sleek black car, driving down the driveway and turning onto the main road to go toward Steven's hiding place.


	25. Chapter 25

The two cars stopped in front of an old house, the splintering wooden frames the only thing from keeping the structure collapsing

The two cars stopped in front of an old house, the splintering wooden frames the only thing from keeping the structure collapsing. Orsanos opened the door of his black car, standing and looking around for any sign of danger before going around and opening Jackie's door for her. Adolph's yellow car pulled up behind him, and they all piled out.  
"You sure this is the place, Orsanos? It doesn't look like a place anyone in their right mind would want to go." Adolph looked suspiciously at the house, wrinkling his nose at the putrid smell of mold.  
"Indeed, it is. In fact, we could probably convince them go come out with the help of your dear little siren." Orsanos looked at Carol, who was looking at the house uneasily. "Would you do the honors, my dear?"  
Carol looked ahead at the house, not knowing whether or not anyone was actually in it. Orsanos thought there was though, and even though she didn't know him very well yet, she trusted him. She nodded softly, biting her lip nervously as she stepped forward, ahead of everyone.  
As she opened her mouth a soft melodic note flowed through the air, reaching into the house and searching for its occupants. Next a deeper and more insidious note followed, beckoning to come out, even in the sense of danger.  
Trevor looked up in surprise as three men piled through the front door of the house, stepping closer so that Trevor immediately recognized them. He gritted his teeth in anger as he recognized Richard, Steven and Hunter stumbling out onto the front lawn. Carol stopped and looked surprised at it had worked, but Orsanos grabbed her shoulder and pushed her back next to Trevor again.  
"Thank you, Carol. I believe the rest of us can take it from here." Orsanos said, a wry smiling coming over his face as Steven looked at the group in front of him in horror, taking a step back in an attempt to run.  
"Do not try to flee, Steven. I will find you again, if you do." Orsanos called out, his green eyes wild. He loved the thrill of battle, though he rarely actually went into confrontation.  
"Who- how?" Steven stammered, and kept backing up so that the other two men were in front of him as shields.  
"Why are you after Carol?" Trevor demanded, gently pushing Carol back so that he was in front of her.  
"Where's my mother?!" Jackie yelled from beside Orsanos. Carol looked over at her in surprise as Richard sneered.  
"Oh, it's you." He chuckled. "I haven't seen you since you were a little kid. Does the little girl miss her mommy? Is she going to cry?" Richard mocked and laughed. Jackie growled in anger and started forward, but Orsanos grabbed her arm to stop her and pulled her back.  
"Not yet, little one. Vanessa is alive in the basement." Orsanos said into Jackie's ear, and released her.  
"Well, since you've worked so hard to find us, let's negotiate." Steven smiled knowingly at Carol, his eyes blazing. "Give us Carol, and we'll let it live."  
"Let what live?" Adolph growled and looked over as Carol gasped in pain, doubling over. Trevor held Carol's shoulders as he tried to figure out what was happening. He looked up to see Richard smiling, his hand outstretched and balled into a fight fist.  
"N-no… please…" Carol said, gasping out a sob of horror as she felt her insides twist in pain. "our…"  
Trevor's eyes shot wide open in realization and terror.  
"SOMEONE STOP HIM!" He yelled, holding on to Carol tightly as she tried to fight off the pain. Adolph looked at Carol in confusion, but knew he could do nothing while the sun was still up.  
"Please!" Carol gasped, and Jackie let out a yell of anger, twisting herself out of Orasanos' grip and running toward Richard. She tackled the man to the ground as both of them burst into flames, Richard's screams echoing throughout the area. Orasanos watched in frozen horror as Jackie burned along with Richard, her yells joining his. She finally let go of the man, who was burned into an unrecognizable mass of flesh, and stumbled backwards into Orasanos' waiting arms.  
"Sorry…" Jackie said, her voice raspy. "couldn't help it."  
Orsanos stared at her with fearful eyes, trying to gather her to him to assess the damage to her. Carol sighed in relief, and looked at a shocked Steven and Hunter still standing in the yard, looking down at the remains of Richard. Hunter looked at Carol, then to Steven and furrowed his eyebrows, disappearing in a sound of rushing air, and reappearing next to Trevor.  
"Richard's abilities can be harmful. I can check for any damage, if you allow me to." Hunter said, bowing his head to Trevor politely. Trevor looked at him warily again, but finally nodded. Hunter set a hand gently over Carol's stomach, his palm letting off a warm white glow. He closed his eyes for a minute and when he opened them again, it was with a smile.  
"There is nothing to be worried about. Your child is very strong, and I congratulate you both." Hunter said, chuckling when Trevor let out a long sigh of relief.  
Trevor looked up, smiling in gratitude. "Thank you." He said, and shook hands with Hunter in a nonverbal act of alliance.  
"Hunter- what do you think you're doing?!" Steven yelled, his eyes wide and wild with fear. "Do you want your family to die?"  
Carol watched with confusion as Hunter stood up, his long black hair hiding his expression as he stood silent momentarily. "They are not in any danger any longer, Steven. It was the only reason I listened to a work you said. You have lost, and you are now helpless." Hunter looked up at Steven, his teeth bared. "My parents will be safe- I am free of your restraints and I will not follow you any longer."  
Orsanos nodded happily, knowing that he had just gained another member into his group of students. He looked up as the sun started to set and smiled wryly. "Say Adolph, what do you think we should do with this evil man?" Orsanos said, setting Jackie carefully in the passenger seat of the car before turning back around.  
"Gee, I dunno Orsanos. Do you think we should wait a few minutes and let him see the more wild side of the people he was trying to control?" Adolph chuckled, looking over to Dela, who was smiling with her fangs clearly in view. "Would you like to have the first bite my little kitten?" he asked as golden fur started sprouting from his face, his wolf ears and tail forming as well. Dela continued to form, until a humanoid leopard stood beside Adolph.  
"You ready for me to add to those claw marks, you slimy bastard?" She hissed, and lunged toward Steven. Everyone looked away from the carnage as Dela had her way with Steven, except for Adolph who looked on with a wide grin saying proudly "That's my girl!"


	26. Epilogue

Epilogue:

Epilogue:

Trevor slumped down in the couch in his cabin next to Carol, whose belly was now round with child in the last few months of her pregnancy.  
"How you doing, angel?" Trevor smiled, noticing Carol was munching on chocolate covered pretzels- her favorite snack now.  
"Good. Someone's pretty active today." Carol smiled, taking Trevor's hand and putting it on her stomach to feel the baby kick back from the pressure. Trevor looked at her in surprise and smiled warmly, thinking of how much his life had changed these past few months. He and Carol had of course gotten married, a small wedding with only a few attendees, since most of Carol and Trevor's family was either out of contact or deceased. Now he was about to have a baby, and become a father. The thought still frightened him, but Carol assured him that he would be a good father. He looked at Carol as a voice sounded through both their heads in forewarning to both of them slumping against each other, their eyes wide and vacant.

_"Damnit Erato, you've got to stop doing that so randomly." Trevor rubbed his head as he looked around the Greek landscape, Erato laughing quietly beside him.  
"I am sorry little firefly, but my sister wished to speak with you two."  
"Which one?" Trevor said sarcastically, looking around him at the nine muses amusing themselves with different activities.  
"Our sister Terpsichore. She is the muse of dance, and wishes to talk to you about your child."  
"Our child?" Carol looked up at that, having been distracted by the fact that her stomach was now flat, instead of its round appearance that it had lately.  
"Yes, she has not had someone to look over for many centuries now, and would like to offer her protection and guidance to your son. Apparently he has some very interesting abilities." Euterpe smiled.  
"Son?" Trevor looked over at Erato, who nodded in reassurance. The goddess pointed over to one of her sisters, who was holding carefully in both her hands a soft yellow and blue light, hovering just above her touch. Terpsichore smiled at the parents.  
"May I take care of your son? He has not grown enough yet to give me permission himself."  
"Uh… sure, I guess. As long as you don't interfere in his decision making too much, I guess." Trevor said, looking toward Carol for her opinion. Carol nodded as well, and Terpsichore smiled happily.  
"Thank you- I will not disappoint you. He has a very exciting life ahead of him." Terpsichore said. Carol and Trevor looked to each other with raised eyebrows before feeling the falling sensation and finding themselves back in their own bodies._

**Yay, finished! :D I hope you liked this story! It's been fun writing it and thank you to all the wonderful people who commented on it and demanded more chapters XD  
There may be a sequel soon, of Trevor and Carol's son please review if you'd like to see the sequel written!**


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